Stormbenders
by Fandomme
Summary: S3 AU from FBM. Deep in the Fire Nation jungle, the Gaang meets a group of rogue water ninja who send Zuko and Katara on a mission to retrieve Ozai's secret battle plans.
1. Chapter 1

**Stormbenders**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: S3 AU from FBM. Deep in the Fire Nation jungle, the Gaang discovers a rogue tribe of exiled water ninja who send Zuko and Katara on a mission to recover the Fire Nation's secret battle plans.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story. I am profoundly grateful to Mike, Bryan, and everyone they employ for growing such a fertile garden of characters and settings.**

**Spoilers: ATLA Season 3, post "The Firebending Masters."**

**Notes: Special thanks are due to RachelTheDemon, AKAVertigo, and OrePookPook for their special support and encouragement. In addition, my other friends at LJ helped me refine this story, commented on early drafts, and basically told me to hurry up and post.**

* * *

_What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution._ Henri-Frédéric Amiel

* * *

Years later, Katara suspected she should have seen it as a turning point when the boys decided to teach Aang how to shave.

"But I already shave," Aang protested. "I've been shaving for years!"

"Those middle hundred don't count," Sokka said.

The boys stood at a trough of steaming water in one of the Western Air Temple's communal bathing rooms. Someone had blocked the entry and exit points of flowing water into the trough, so that it pooled into a secondary channel and continued its descent into the waste-water channels leading into the chasm below the temple. Sokka, Aang, and Zuko stood shirtless before an old, spotted mirror. Foam coated Sokka and Zuko's jaws. It coated Aang's whole head, chin to scalp.

"The face is harder," Zuko said. He squinted at himself in the mirror. He pulled his dagger down carefully, stretching the skin of his face taut as he did so. "You have to be precise-"

"What do you think you're doing?" Katara asked. Zuko flinched. Blood blossomed up on his chin. In the mirror, she saw him roll his eyes. Sighing, he flicked foam off the edge of the blade with a single motion of his wrist. Blood trailed down his throat as he began to heat the tip of his knife with his breath.

"Katara, did you not see the sign?" Sokka gesticulated in the direction of the door. He marched up to her, looking like a very angry old man with a very white, soapy beard. He jabbed a finger at the engraving in the door's center. "That bison has _horns._ It's a _boy bison._ This is the _boys' room_." He pointed across the hall. "The _girl's room_ is over _there._"

Katara pushed him aside. "Aang doesn't need to learn how to shave," she told Zuko, who momentarily paused blowing on his knife. The tip glowed orange now. He kept his mouth in a tiny circle, his single good eyebrow lifted. One clean column of smooth skin stretched from his scar to his chin, where blood had welled inside the foam. "He's twelve!" Katara said, pointing at Aang. Aang's large gray eyes blinked owlishly from within their mask of soap and water. His shoulders seemed to fall.

"I was twelve when I learned," Haru said, from his crouched position near Teo's modified two-seater. He squirted oil onto the axles.

"Not that you've made much use of it," Teo said.

"Yeah, you want Aang to grow up with a caterpillar hangin' off his lip?" Sokka asked.

Katara waved Sokka away. She pointed at Zuko "Shouldn't you be training him?"

"I am," Zuko said.

"In the manly arts," Sokka said.

"I heated the water," Aang said. "See?"

Katara bent up a ribbon of the steaming water. "That's very good, Aang." She let the water drop. Zuko blew again on his knife. The tip glowed red. "And _what_ are you doing with that knife?"

He paused. "Cleaning it." He blinked. "This cut isn't going to heal itself, you know."

"Heal…" Katara rolled her eyes. "You are so infuriating," she said, bending up a thin thread of water into a spinning disc over her palm. "Stand still…" She moved forward and he flinched away. "Stand _still_, I said!" She grabbed for his good ear but he ducked away and she gripped hair instead. He stopped short and she moved up and for a minute they were back under Ba Sing Se, he went so still and silent. She was very conscious of the way the steam dampened his skin and how the thin trickle of blood on his throat shone when he swallowed. "How could you cut yourself?" she asked, bending water to his chin. She smelled his soap -- yuzu and something else, maybe sesame -- and watched the water glow. "You used to shave your whole scalp. What happened?"

"I-"

"Don't talk; you'll mess it up!"

Zuko's lips thinned. She squinted at his chin, watching the water knit the broken skin back together. "Watch carefully, Aang," she heard Sokka say. "You won't always have a healer to help with this kind of thing. I recommend covering those little cuts with snow."

"Or mud," Haru said.

"Or leaves," The Duke said. They all turned to him. He shrugged his little shoulders. "Pipsqueak showed me."

"See?" Sokka said. "Not too young at all!"

"Are you done?" Zuko asked.

"I told you not to talk!" She peered at his chin. _Perfect._ "Yes, I'm finished." She folded her arms. "Well? Aren't you going to thank me?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to talk."

Growling, Katara threw her hands up and turned on her heel. "Lesson Two of the Manly Arts, Aang," Sokka said. Katara felt a stinging slap across her behind. "The towel-snap."

Katara whirled. The water in the trough twisted upward. She spun, and it covered Sokka in one large wave. The others ducked, but couldn't avoid the splash. Sokka held up his newly-soaked towel. It still maintained its twisting, snapping shape. Water dribbled noisily to the flagstones below. "My towel…"

* * *

"Hey look, a saber-toothed moose-lion," Sokka said. He lay flat on his belly and twisted his hands into an unusual shape. There on the wall, three polar tigers high, a shadow puppet limped haltingly across the stones.

"It looks more like a wild hogmonkey," Toph said.

Sokka turned. "You think so? I know the antlers-" He stopped short, scowled, and folded his arms. "You know, every time you do that, it's a little less funny."

The others laughed. "Do Wan Shi Tong," Katara said.

"Who's Wan Shi Tong?" Teo asked.

"Spirit of knowledge," Sokka said, before making a bird shape with his hands. He mimed angry flapping. _"Cower before my vast intellect, you pitiful humans! And fetch me more mice! My enormous brain requires small, furry snacks!"_

"Uh, I'm not so sure the knowledge spirit actually ate mice, Sokka," Aang said.

"C'mon Aang, he was a _giant owl._ What else would he eat?" His jaw dropped and his shadow puppet stopped flapping. "You don't think Professor Zei is a big fat owl pellet right now, do you?"

"Who's Professor Zei?" Haru asked.

"Bird food, apparently," Teo said.

Zuko strode in just then. He carried a fat lumpy sack over one shoulder. "'Bout time, Sparky," Toph said. She snapped her fingers. "Gimme my moon peach."

"Moon peaches!" Sokka scrambled to his feet and tugged the sack free of Zuko's grasp. His fist dove in and retrieved fruit. "One thing about the Fire Nation: plentiful fresh fruit."

"We aim to please," Zuko said, rolling his eyes. He dug into the sack and produced two peaches. He handed one to Toph, who eagerly bit down into the fruit.

"They're so fuzzy!" she said, her mouth full of half-chewed white flesh.

"Like a tasty little fruit creature," Sokka said. He took three dainty bites before holding the peach up. "Look! I made a face!"

"Maybe you should teach it to shave," Katara said, before peering into the bag. "Did everyone get some?"

"No," Haru, Teo, the Duke, and Aang chorused. Aang floated over and dug into the bag. He lifted the peaches and juggled them with airbending, spinning them in a circle before jetting them to the others' waiting hands on little streams of air. The Duke missed his and it splatted on the wall behind him.

Aang winced. "I'm sorry-"

"He can have mine," Zuko and Katara said in unison.

"Jinx!" Sokka cried. "Neither of you can talk until someone says your name!"

Katara frowned. "Who-"

_"No talking!"_

"You can keep yours, _Katara_," Aang said, grinning. "The Duke can have mine."

"Aw, Aang, you ruined it…"

"Hey, Sparky, cut me some of yours," Toph said. "I'm done with mine."

"You're worse than a hog-rooster," Zuko said. His worked his knife into the fruit and produced a single slice. "You can have that one."

Katara's jaw dropped. "Toph! That's disgusting! That's the knife he _shaves_ with!"

Toph popped the fruit into her mouth. "Doesn't bother me."

"It's clean," Zuko said. "It would rust if I didn't clean it."

Toph pawed for his face. "You shave? Really?"

"Get your fingers out of my face!"

"I wanna see! Are you all smooth, prettyboy?" The earthbender reached for him and he swerved out of her reach. Toph's stubby fingers grabbed for him and fell awkwardly, knife in one hand, peach in the other. He pushed away from the wall with his legs. Toph crawled after him, laughing, seemingly intent on tackling him. Zuko stretched his arms above his head, keeping the knife a careful distance from her as he frantically crabbed across the floor. She descended on him, hands out-

"Toph, I mean it, don't!" Zuko flung an arm over the left half of his face just as Toph's hands landed there.

"Hey," she said. "How come you're covering it up?" She pulled away slowly. "Are my hands really that dirty? I mean, I know I-"

"No," Zuko said, sitting up. "That's not it. Just…take this." He handed her the rest of his moon peach. "You can have it."

"I'm not hungry, anymore," Toph said.

"Then give it away," Zuko said, standing up and leaving the room.

Toph stared at the floor. For a moment, she seemed to listen to something the rest of them couldn't hear. "What was that about?" she asked, squaring her shoulders. "Jerkbender can't take a joke."

Silence. Katara looked at Sokka. Sokka gave her the _You're a girl, you tell her,_ face. Katara opened her mouth to speak-

"Maybe his eye just hurts," The Duke said, with his mouth full. "It _looks_ like it hurts."

"His eye?" Toph asked. The others winced. "What's wrong with his eye?"

Katara struggled to find the right words. "Maybe we should-"

"Someone burned it," The Duke said. "It's all rough and scaly like a komodo rhino."

"We don't know what happened," Katara said. "He could have had an accident."

"No, someone did it to him," Haru said. He grimaced. "Take it from someone who did more time on a Fire Nation prison ship."

"Who would do something like that?" Toph asked. Her fists tightened. "Who just wakes up and says, 'hey, I think I'll scar someone today'?"

Another silence. Aang's face clouded and his jaw set. "Azula," he said, touching his chest where Zuko's sister had left her mark.

"Whoever did it, it's not our business," Sokka said. "We're here to win the war, not to gossip. If Sparky wants to tell us, he will."

"Don't feel bad, Toph," Aang said, attempting a smile. "I bet it hurts when anybody touches it."

"No, it doesn't," Katara said, without thinking. She instantly wished the words back into her mouth, but they wouldn't come. The others stared at her. Aang's eyes seemed especially large and penetrating.

Sokka frowned mid-bite. "How would you know?"

Her mouth opened, closed. Her hands found her hips. "Who trained at the Healing Hut, huh? You, or me?" Distantly, she noticed her feet carrying her out of the room. "I could probably fill an ocean with the things I know that you don't!" She breezed out-

-and bumped right into Zuko. He grabbed her wrists -- _I'll save you from the pirates --_ and then let them go. He looked at a point somewhere over her shoulder. She moved right, he moved left. She moved left, he moved right. "You go ahead," he said, stepping aside and letting her pass. She heard him sweep away down the hall, his steps oddly quiet but his breathing shallow and noisy. She turned to watch him leave, and only then did she realize she had no clue where she was headed.

* * *

That night, a storm came.

"Sparky says it's the monsoon season," Toph said. Thunder echoed through the girls' bathing chamber. Toph paused to count: "One Omashu, two Omashu, three Omashu…" Apparently satisfied that the lightning was not too close, she continued cleaning her teeth.

"Would you like me to brush your hair?" Katara asked.

Toph shook her head. "I'm good." She spat into the trough of cold water. "I would like you to tell me one thing, though."

Katara winced. _I knew this was coming._ "Oh? What's that?"

"How come you didn't tell me about Sparky's face?"

Katara shifted weight. "Well…you're the one who told me that appearances don't matter to you-"

"Can he still see?"

"Huh?" Katara blinked. "Oh. Yes. He can still see out of that eye. His vision is fine."

"How do you know? Did you ask?"

She folded her arms. "I've fought him, Toph. He can see perfectly."

"I'm blind, and _I_ fight just fine."

Katara's face heated. She sighed. "That's right, Toph. You're an excellent fighter. I'm sorry." She leaned against the trough. "In a way, you're sort of alike. We're always forgetting that you're blind, and most of us don't even see Zuko's scar any more. It's just a part of who he is."

Thunder rolled above them. In the distance, Katara heard rain slashing against the verandas and balconies of the temple. _My face? I see._ She fisted her hands against the feeling of glossy, rippled flesh, and the stiffness of it there under her fingers, the odd delicacy of that permanent violet bruise -- as though the wound would never finish healing, ever. _Maybe you can be free of it._ "Is it big?" Toph asked.

Katara shook herself. She hugged her arms. "It goes from his left eye all the way back to his ear, and up near his hair. It looks sort of like a comet."

"And that would look like…?"

"Oh. Sorry. It's shaped like, um…a fishtail."

Toph crunched her little fist into her palm. "One day, I'm gonna get that little-" She stopped. Her face paled. "We're not alone."

"Toph-"

But the earthbender had already charged into the hall. Katara bent up a rope of water from the trough and followed her. "Sparky! We've got company!" Toph stomped her foot. The stones beneath rippled upward, shooting up at odd intervals like broken teeth. Toph raised them still further with her fingers; the ancient bricks hovered before she flipped her hands over and flicked her fingers outward -- the stones shot backward into shadow. Katara sensed movement above them. She whipped water above Toph's head into the darkness, but touched nothing. Behind her, Sokka and the others skidded into place.

"Intruders?" Sokka asked, shaking hair from his eyes.

"Where's Sparky?" Toph asked.

"Show yourselves!" Aang shouted, slicing the air with his staff. Tiny balls of white flame answered him. Katara raised a wall of water and pushed it out in a wave; the water returned to her as a thousand icy needles. Eyes wide, she whirled and sent them high over her head as the others ducked low to miss them. She froze them into a club that circled overhead.

"So the firebenders bend water, now?" Sokka asked, palm slapping his face. He raised his fist. "Why, Universe? Why? What did we ever do to you?"

"Retreat," Teo said. "Duke. In the glider. Now." Katara heard the rattle of wheels on stone behind her. They screeched to a halt a moment later. "Uh, guys…" Teo's voice shook. "I can't move."

"Oh, no," Sokka said. His boomerang clattered to the ground. Aang's staff fell. Katara's limbs tightened and her water splashed down. Her blood froze. _Oh no, please no, not this, anything but this. _Lightning flashed and she saw moving shapes in the hall, saw them crawling on the walls, saw an approaching shape that looked female and carried a sparking ball of blue lightning in each hand.

_"No!"_ With her last bit of willpower, Katara threw herself in front of Aang. She stumbled and her body hit the stones. She could only look upward.

So she saw with perfect clarity the moment when Zuko fell from the ceiling, arms out, mouth open and shouting. He crashed down on the woman, drew his swords, and crossed them over her neck. Fire exploded from the walls around him and Aang cried out: "Zuko! Behind you!"

Zuko lifted his hold and his hands stirred the air into a circle of fire; he spun the bolts of flame away and fire trailed along the steel of each sword. The woman beneath him popped up and he ducked low as she shot white flame his way. It looked like he was fighting a shadow -- a whole team of shadows. Katara couldn't see their faces, only the rare glimpse of their black shapes as fire lit the air. And they were advancing.

"We can't move!" Katara shouted. "They're bending the water in our blood!"

"You're a waterbending master!" He summoned great whips of fire and spun them over his head. Thin discs of ice careened through the air toward the group; they hissed away into drops as he backed away and the fire-whips licked the air. He moved his arms and the whips became wheels. He drove them along the floor and they split and rolled along the walls. The shadows leapt through the air and he lifted the fire and sent a great wave of it down the hall. He crouched low. Katara smelled sweat pouring off him. He breathed hard. "_Bend it back._"

"He's right, Katara," Aang said. "You can do it."

She grimaced. "You're a waterbending master too, Aang. So can you."

"Less talking, more fighting," Sokka said.

Katara shut her eyes. She pictured the blood inside her as the canals of the North Pole, carrying life through the city that was her body. _Those are my canals. This is my blood. No one else can have it but me._ Inside her the canals rose, surged, she pictured herself standing on an elegant bridge of ice and lifting her arms and snapping the hold someone else had on her like Aang had broken the Fire Navy's Northern Fleet-

-and her body was hers again and she rolled to her feet and converted her puddle to two sleeves of water that snaked through the air alongside Zuko's fire-whips. The others cheered. She whirled -- _they_ whirled -- and she moved high and he moved low and fire jetted across the floor as long spears of ice shrieked through the air.

Silence. They straightened. Distantly, she was aware that they breathed in tandem. Then laughter -- dry, low laughter that raised the hairs on her neck. In the darkness, she saw two glowing balls of sparking light. "Very good," someone said. "You almost pass."

Lightning crackled through the air toward them; Zuko moved and he was in front of her and he caught it -- _he caught the lightning_ -- and his arms made something like a waterbending form. His two hands pushed and he lunged and she caught herself shadowing him -- like teaching Aang, like showing Aang how to do it -- and blue lightning shot from his shaking hands and she heard his teeth grinding as the light skittered down the darkened hallway.

"Whoa," Sokka murmured.

Katara heard footsteps. Zuko moved and he was backing up, pushing her behind him. "Get Aang out of here."

"No way," Aang said. He stretched his arms. "I can move!" Air lifted his staff back into his hands. The others rose with him. All but Toph assumed defensive postures.

"It's okay," Toph said, smiling. "It's-"

"My nephew," an older voice said. Out of the darkness, his footsteps strong and sure, came a broad-shouldered shape. Katara saw the beard first. Then she saw Zuko falling to his knees. She barely recognized the old man. His whole body had changed -- he walked taller, held himself straighter, and his paunch had disappeared. New lines had appeared under his eyes. When he looked at Zuko, those eyes narrowed.

"Zuko," he said.

Zuko trembled under that gaze. He suddenly seemed much smaller than she remembered. Horrified, Katara watched him kneel even further, placing his palms flat on the floor and letting his forehead touch the stones. "Un…" He caught himself. "F… _Father_," he said. "Please forgive me. I'm… I'm your loyal son."

Something in the old man's face melted a little. He sighed. "Oh, junior," he said. He held a hand down to Zuko. "You worry too much."

Zuko took his hand and rocketed to his feet. Suddenly the old man had his arms full of teenager, and his startled eyes made contact with Katara's over Zuko's shoulder. He patted Zuko's back lightly. Zuko pulled away. He had the old man by his newly-sculpted shoulders. "You've changed," Zuko said.

The other man smiled. "So have you."

Sokka cleared his throat. "Uh, this is very touching, but about those people trying to kill us?"

Zuko's uncle -- or was he his dad? -- held out his hand. "Avatar Aang," he said.

"Yes?"

"I would like to introduce you to some very special friends of mine." The shadows emerged from the darkness and into the rain. Balls of fire glowed in some of their palms. They pulled off their black hoods and exposed a rainbow of faces: dark and light, male and female, silky Fire Nation hair and tight Water Tribe braids. Lightning exposed their smiles. Thunder split the sky. "These are the Stormbenders."

**Further Notes:**

**I apologize for how short this chapter is. But this felt like the right place to stop. I hope you enjoyed it! **

**Some of you who read my other ATLA stories, specifically the **_**Three Chores**_** series, may be wondering if **_**Chores**_** is canon to this story. It is not, although they do (and will) share some elements. I avoided making **_**Chores**_** canon for SB because of Part Three of **_**Chores**__**Gathering**_**) takes the story in a different direction than the one SB is going. Just be patient, and all will be made clear. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Stormbenders**

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, and Paramount. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Special thanks to RedBrunja, who was the first to review!**

* * *

_There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in __storm_ --Willa Cather

* * *

"You were _testing_ us?"

Toph balled her little fists at the Stormbenders assembled around their fire. The group of twelve strangers watched her impassively. It was a surprisingly diverse group -- six waterbenders and six firebenders, with three men and three women on each team. But they wore black, not red or blue. Even the betrothal necklaces had different symbols, and one of the Fire Nation women wore one. All wore their hair short or tied back, the better to fit under their face-masking hoods. And the dancing shadows made them seem larger than they actually were -- now that Katara really looked, she saw that they were more slender and wiry than either Fire Nation soldiers or Water Tribe sailors.

"We wanted you to understand your weaknesses," an older firebending woman with iron-gray hair said. She had introduced herself as Xiao Zhi, and she seemed like the leader. For some reason, Katara felt as though they had met before, but every time she looked at the details of the older woman's craggy, sun-weathered face, she couldn't place her.

"You couldn't have sent a note?" Sokka asked.

A man with Water Tribe beads in his hair looked at Sokka. "You have no evacuation plan," he said. "You got lucky. The earthbender-"

"-her name is Toph," Zuko cut in.

"-alerted you to the threat, but what if her feet were injured?"

Zuko looked at the floor. Toph's lips thinned. If she could have breathed steam like a firebender, Katara thought, she would be doing so. "You shot lightning at us," Aang said. He glared at Zuko's uncle and pointed at the black-clad group. "You let them shoot lightning at us!"

Xiao Zhi held up a hand. "That was our idea. General Iroh opposed it." She cracked a wry smile at Zuko. "We had to be sure of your abilities _and_ your loyalties."

"My _loyalties?_" Zuko threw his hands in the air. "What is it with waterbenders? You're all crazy!" He jerked a thumb toward his chest. "Ozai tried to destroy me when I defied him and joined the Avatar. And in case you hadn't noticed, _I'm still here_."

"Your _dad_ did that?" Toph asked. Her blind eyes widened. "Wait. He _is_ your dad, right?"

"In name only," Zuko said, crossing his arms and glowering at the floor. He leaned against a pillar, away from the light of the fire. Katara felt rather than saw Sokka's uncomfortable shift in posture -- the others pointedly looked away from Zuko. It was like those moments in the tents back home, when someone made a bad joke and no laughter came, just the sound of wind whistling past the skins and bones of someone's home.

"Well, uh, I don't know about waterbenders being crazy, but Zuko already proved himself to me a while ago," Aang said after a pause. "I even checked with the group first before he was allowed to join."

"Not the whole group," Teo said, holding up a gloved hand.

Aang reddened. He looked at the Stormbenders. "The point is that I choose my teachers, not you. Zuko saved us. And he apologized for everything. And he's a really good teacher!" Aang's grip tightened on his staff. "And that's good enough for me."

Iroh gave Xiao Zhi a look that was more than a little smug. Then he bestowed it on Zuko, who seemed to have shrunk even further into himself despite his odd little smile, as though he expected the praise to stream off him rather than sink in. "Be that as it may," Xiao Zhi said, "you still have a great deal to learn. And there is a great deal that we want to teach you."

"Let me guess, it involves the sneaky arts," Sokka said. "Why are you guys called the Stormbenders, anyway? Were you just mad that 'Dai Li' was already taken?"

Xiao Zhi gave Sokka the look she might give an insect before nodding at her group. "Mekai, Ju-Li, show them."

The Water Tribe man who had spoken to Sokka stood up, and a young woman stood up beside him. He bent water from the nearby fountain, and the woman raised her arms. They faced one another, crouched, and began an intricate circular weaving motion. The woman moved her hands in opposing circles, while the man used water to stir the air. Light sparked in the path the woman's fingers made. Suddenly water snaked outward and lightning joined it; they merged into a single ray of sizzling light. The pair directed the whole glowing, sparking, steaming beam and it split, expanding like a net that scorched the furthest wall and sent Momo hiding inside Aang's shirt. The room dimmed as the lightning fizzed away and the water withdrew to the fountain. The pair panted lightly, straightening, admiring the scars their weapon had etched on the stone.

"You found a way to combine the elements," Aang said, all trace of defiance gone from his voice.

"And so can you," Iroh said. "Stormbending is a powerful tool shared between waterbenders and firebenders. It takes the best of both elements and blends them together in harmony. And that is why the Fire Lord will not be prepared for it."

"It's not the only thing you have to learn, Avatar Aang," Xiao Zhi said. Her gaze fixed on Katara. "You're familiar with bloodbending. Have you taught him?"

Katara stepped back. "Are you insane? Of course not! Bloodbending is wrong."

"What about when it's used to heal the sick or treat wounds?" a waterbending woman asked.

Katara's mouth opened, then closed. She had never considered bloodbending to have healing properties. She pictured those pretty flowers drained of all life and color, saw herself wringing the moisture from a tree and heard its dry, dead snap -- how could you help a sick person that way? But maybe, if you bent the blood to help it clot faster, or you bent blood away from a newborn baby's mouth just as it was trying to breathe… _I think we'll call her Hope._

"And speaking of your healing abilities, have you taught _those_ to the Avatar?" Xiao Zhi asked, starling Katara out of her memories. The older woman arched an eyebrow in her direction. "Have you even tried?"

Sokka stepped forward. "Hey now, wait a minute-"

"And what about your swordplay, Sokka? Or your steelbending, Miss Toph?" Iroh asked. His old eyes slid over to Zuko. "And have you instructed the Avatar in how to re-direct lightning, my nephew?"

"My control isn't strong enough," Zuko said, his expression darkening. "It's not safe."

"Then the Avatar still has much to learn," Xiao Zhi said.

"My teachers are great!" Aang said. He leveled his staff at the Stormbenders. "I'm working as hard as I can just to master all four elements! I don't have time for all kinds of fancy bending!"

"And the world has no time for your excuses," Xiao Zhi said. "Sozin's Comet is coming."

"That's _it!_" Toph stamped her foot, sculpted a hand of stone, and slapped it across Xiao Zhi's mouth Dai Li-style. "I don't care who you are, or how super-special your bending is. _Nobody_ talks to Twinkletoes that way." She crossed her arms and blew air past her bangs. She spoke in her _you're not our mom_-voice. "We're doing just fine without you."

Iroh cleared his throat. He clasped his hands behind his back and stepped toward her. "I hope you will forgive an old man his impertinence, Miss Toph, but you escaped my brother's armies with only your lives. That is the difference between survival and success." He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Real victory, in battle and in life, means achieving your goals without losing what made them important in the first place."

Toph's brows furrowed. "What does that even mean?"

"It means we all started this journey for the same reason," Zuko said. He peeled himself away from the pillar against which he leaned. He stood beside Aang. "We want to help you restore balance to the world and end the war. How you do that is your decision. But I know what Ozai is. And if you want to defeat him, you need to bend lightning."

Aang frowned. He looked to Katara. "Katara, what do you think?"

She licked her lips. "I think you're a great waterbender, Aang. I think that you've come so far, so fast, that you surprise me every time I see you bend." Her hands twisted. "But I also think you've learned everything that I know how to teach you. And I think that I still have some things to learn."

"Can I get that in writing?" Sokka asked, holding up a hand. "I just want to record this moment. You know, for posterity." The others stared at him. Even Xiao Zhi paused her attempt to pry off the stone hand covering her mouth. Sokka pointed at Katara. "She said she had _more to learn!_ That's like admitting she's _wrong!_ Do you not understand how special this moment is?"

"Oh, it's pretty special, all right," a deep, familiar voice said from the shadows. Katara felt her stomach trade places with her heart. Her knees went to jelly. She turned and there he was, limping into the light, holding himself up stiffly and smiling with eyes rimmed by new shadows-

_"Dad!" _

Sokka darted past the others. Katara didn't feel her feet moving but suddenly she was there too, and her dad's arm was across her shoulders and his cheek was against her scalp. He smelled different, like coal and copper and sulfur and not the sea, and he grunted a little when they squeezed him too hard. He clothes fit oddly and he wore a thick coat of stubble. For the first time, Katara noticed a stray white hair on his chin.

The waterbending woman who had mentioned healing stood up. "Hakoda, you're not supposed to-"

"They're my children, Akna," he said. "I'll see them when I want to."

"You're okay," Katara said, wiping her eyes. "You're really okay."

"He's our dad, Katara," Sokka said, thumping their dad's shoulder and ignoring his grimace. "He's tough."

"Now I know where you get it from," said a younger, more tentative voice.

Sokka paled. He pulled away from their dad and watched as a thin, shy shape emerged furtively from the darkness. The girl wore the black clothes that belonged on a Stormbender, but she kept her brown hair long and loose. She bit her lower lip. "Don't you recognize-"

But Sokka had already covered Suki's mouth. His hands pushed roughly into her new long hair and he held her face in place, lips unmoving as though he could simply press more life into her through sheer force of will. They pulled away audibly and he was shaking: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" His arms wrapped around her and he held her head to his shoulder. "I should _never_ have left Ba Sing Se. If I hadn't gone I would have known and I would have found you, but I left and then it was too late and I tried to make her tell me where you were but I _couldn't_ and we had to leave-"

"Sokka," Suki said, patting his back. "People are staring."

Katara looked and indeed, the whole group _was_ staring -- aside from Toph, who seemed consumed by an insect bite on her elbow. Haru coughed delicately into his fist. Sokka turned several shades of red. "Oh, right. Yeah. Well. Dad, Suki. Suki, Dad."

"We've met," their dad said.

"Oh."

"You and I need to have a talk."

_"Oh."_ Sokka seemed to shrink to a third of his normal size. Suki took his hand and he brightened. "Well, uh, then you're just in time for Aang's lessons in the manly arts," he said. "Sparky and I just taught him to shave."

"Manly arts?" Hakoda asked.

_"Sparky?"_ Iroh stared at Zuko.

"Relax, Pops," Toph said, continuing to scratch her elbow. "It's just a nickname."

Teo pulled off his goggles and began polishing them. "It's gonna be a long summer."

Haru nodded. "No doubt."

Xiao Zhi finally succeeded in prying off the stone hand Toph had sent her way. She spat dirt and coughed. She hurled the hand far away and it crumbled against the wall. "Avatar Aang, do we have a deal?"

Aang looked at Sokka and Suki. His eyes lit on Katara and her dad. Hakoda leaned on her more heavily, now, and she felt his ribs in a way that she hadn't on the day of the eclipse. Like Suki, he had lost weight. "You rescued them?"

"General Iroh insisted," she said. She narrowed her eyes at the old man. "He also broke the terms of our agreement when he led Hakoda and the Kyoshi warrior here. We had hoped you would agree without extra encouragement."

"That's another lesson in the manly arts, Avatar Aang," Iroh said. "Always sweeten the pot."

"Don't think you're not in trouble, General Iroh," Xiao Zhi said.

Iroh rocked on his heels. "That is quite worrisome," he said. "No doubt you'll imagine satisfactory punishment-"

"Uncle!" Zuko hid his blush behind his hand. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready for bed."

Toph yawned loudly. "You said it." She seemed to blink in the direction of Sokka and Suki. Then she offered a brittle smile and snapped her fingers. "Sparky, yip-yip."

Zuko rolled his eyes even as he began walking toward her. A smile tugged one corner of his mouth. "You're too big to be carried…"

"Payback is payback, Little Lord Jerkbender." Zuko crouched in front of her and she climbed atop his back. His arms settled under her legs and he adjusted her weight as he stood. He frowned at Iroh. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, my nephew. Nothing at all." Iroh clapped his hands together dryly. "This is all very exciting. I believe I need some tea to calm my nerves."

Together, Zuko and Toph groaned. Zuko hitched her a little higher on his back and left the room. "That's the Fire Prince?" Hakoda asked, watching them leave.

"Former Fire Prince," Sokka said.

Hakoda frowned. He was silent a moment before asking: "That boy shaves?"

"It surprised me, too, Dad."

* * *

Having three more people -- at least -- meant preparing three more rooms, so Katara found herself digging through old supply chests for the few remaining blankets not devoured by silk-eaters and cave-hoppers. Some futile searching convinced her that her best bet was simply to choose the linens with the fewest holes. As it was, the blankets she now folded over her arm looked as though they might crumble if she sneezed wrong. All the good ones -- the woven ones, not the quilts that leaked their bison fur stuffing -- were snatched up when the group first arrived here. Why couldn't the airbenders use sleeping bags, like normal people?

_There's an idea._ Smiling, Katara adjusted the blankets on her arm and headed down toward the bison stable. Most of the traveling gear was still there under the huge polished beams and mosaics, including the sleeping bags. It was too hot for them, really, but they might provide cushioning for Suki and her dad's aching bones. Katara had to admit that the airbender barracks, while neat and orderly, were a little bit lacking in the comfort department. She had slept on softer earth than those cots. She allowed herself one little pang of longing for their beds back in Ba Sing Se -- those big, fluffy, clean beds -- before hoisting the sleeping bags over her other shoulder and leaving the room. Appa grunted a goodbye as she shut the door-

-and bumped into a very large someone. "Please forgive me," he said, and Katara found herself blinking up at General Iroh. "You look like you could use some help."

"Oh, no, that's all right," she said. She held out the blankets. "But some of these are for your room. Here, take your pick."

"Your generosity touches this old man's heart," he said. He lifted off a couple of blankets and folded them neatly over one arm. "My compliments to the lady of the house."

To her horror, Katara's ears burned. "I'm just doing what my Gran-Gran would do…"

"Then would your Gran-Gran kindly direct me to my room?"

"Oh. Right. Sure." She started walking. "There are rooms near Zuko's, I guess you'll want to be there…"

"That would be very nice, thank you." Iroh followed her. "I hope that my nephew is being a good guest."

"Um…" Katara hadn't really thought about it. He taught Aang. He protected Aang. He had yet to hurt Aang. Those were the important things. The other things -- the way he heated Toph's bathwater, the way he blew on The Duke's tea to get it just warm enough not to burn his tongue -- she didn't really consider in the face of that one duty. "He is, I guess."

"He is doing his chores?"

She frowned. They didn't have a formal system for delegating chores. She told people how to help and they helped. She _was_ the system. And she didn't talk to Zuko very much, if she could help it. "I suppose so…" Something occurred to her as they mounted the stairs. "He does make a full pot of tea every morning."

"Oh, dear," Iroh said. "I am very sorry to hear that."

Katara snorted laughter. "It's a little…"

"Bracing," Iroh said.

"Aang says it's to help them focus during morning meditation," she said. "Although how you could focus with that taste in your mouth, I have no idea. He worked in a teashop! How can he be so bad at making tea?"

"He has other talents," Iroh said. "His firebending has progressed-"

"Now that he remembers how," Katara said, rolling her eyes. "And let's not forget how skilled he is at chasing people down, tying them to trees, and stealing their stuff."

Iroh stopped short behind her. "Miss Katara."

She turned around. The old general's eyes met hers and something in her quailed -- he was like Master Pakku and Azula rolled into one, when his gaze bore down on her like that. He radiated disappointment, as though he somehow knew her well enough to expect better. Which he didn't -- they'd never formally met. Katara took a deep breath and braced her feet, as though beginning a battle with Iroh's nephew. "Don't tell me you've completely forgiven him," she said. "Zuko betrayed you down there, too. He let you rot in prison!"

The furrows in Iroh's face deepened even further. He blinked. "Do I look rotten to you?"

Her face flamed. "No. That's not what I meant! He…" She resisted the urge to stamp her foot. "He joined _Azula._ He let her hurt Aang. And that was _after_ he chased us all over the world! You were there! You helped!"

"And yet you seem to have forgiven me," Iroh said. "Did I not sit idly by Zuko tied you to that tree? Did I not help him send a bounty hunter after you and bring him to the North Pole?"

"That's different!"

"How is it different?" When she opened her mouth to reply, Iroh held up a finger. "Forgiveness is a seed that only grows in rich soil. Don't worry if part of you hasn't thawed. I seem to remember it getting very cold in the South Pole." He smiled. "Now, show me to my room."

"Um…sure." She pushed ahead of him and hurried up to Zuko's room. To her surprise, she heard his voice across the hall -- in Toph's room. She pulled up short and Iroh paused behind her as she listened:

"What's this one?" Toph asked.

_"Fight,"_ Zuko said. "Here, it goes like this. One…two…three…"

"When did Pops give this to you?"

"When I was your age," Zuko said. "Maybe a little younger."

"Was that before you got hurt?"

"…Yes. That was three years ago."

A pause, then: "You getting all this, Sweetness?"

Katara mentally kicked herself. Shutting her eyes, she said: "I was just delivering extra blankets to General Iroh's room, Toph, I wasn't-"

"I'm gonna tell your dad on you if you don't leave!"

"You were _listening-_" Zuko's head appeared outside the door. His good eye widened. "Uncle."

"Nephew." Iroh took Katara's elbow. "Let's be moving along, Miss Katara."

After all that, Katara was only too happy to lead Iroh to his new room, say goodnight, and shut the door. She found Sokka and Suki in Sokka's room -- she wondered what their dad would say to that -- and told Suki that she planned on laying down fresh linens in her new room. "I'll do it," Sokka said, picking his sleeping bag out of the pile as well as too many blankets. He made no pretense of moving, just held the blankets in his lap.

"It's good to see you, Suki," Katara said, growing steadily more uncomfortable.

"It's good to see you, too," Suki said. Sokka gave Katara a polite stare that said_ get out, we're busy. _Nodding and trying to free her mind of the picture of her brother kissing _anybody_ that way, Katara backed out of the room. She'd gone three steps before she heard Suki's giggle and the door being kicked shut. Wincing, she followed her father's voice to another room down the hall.

Hakoda lay on a bed with his feet up on a makeshift pillow, with the Stormbender Akna fluffing the one behind his neck. Katara watched the other woman bend over her father one more time, cooing something inane and comforting, before her jaw dropped and she said: "Dad!"

"Katara!" Her father's voice cracked in _exactly_ the way Sokka's did when he'd been caught sneaking extra rations. "Are those blankets for me?"

"Yes," she said, marching into the room. She turned to Akna. The Stormbender was tall, lithe, and _way too young_ for someone Hakoda's age. _Dad's been Chief for long enough to know a power-hungry little polar rat when he sees one; how come he's not telling her to shove off? _"I'll take it from here."

Akna pursed her lips. "Of course." She leaned around Katara and smiled. "Goodnight, Hakoda."

"Goodnight…"

Katara watched Akna sashay her way out of the room and stared ice-daggers into the other woman's back. Upon hearing a sigh from her father's direction, she swung her gaze on him. Hakoda instantly schooled his face to a more fatherly expression. "She helped break me out of prison," he said.

"She's younger than you."

"So was your mother."

Katara threw the blankets at him. "I refuse to have this conversation!"

His eyebrows lifted. "A grown-up conversation?"

Growling, Katara turned on her heel. "Do what you want! It's never stopped you before!"

"Katara-"

She slammed the door behind her and marched down the hall. Zuko peeked out of his room, winced, and stepped into the hall anyway. He stood directly in front of her. She did her best to breeze right past him, but he feinted right, then left, effectively stopping her in her tracks. "What is it, Zuko?"

He licked his lips. "I have an idea."

"Does it involve throwing that little stormbending hussy off a cliff?"

"Who?"

"Just spit it out, Zuko."

"Aang should sleep in Toph's room," he said.

Katara's eyebrow commenced twitching. "Did you drink the crazy tea, this morning?"

"What? No." He lowered his voice and looked at the stones surrounding them. "I don't trust these people. They attacked us."

Katara pushed away the feeling of her own blood freezing inside her body. _They shot lightning at Aang. They bent our blood. How are they still here? _She frowned and folded her arms. "What does that have to do with Toph?"

"She sleeps on the floor," Zuko said. "She'll feel it first if someone tries to sneak up on Aang."

To her chagrin, Zuko had a point. Toph had sensed the intruders first. She would know the minute someone tried to hurt Aang. "But your uncle brought them," Katara said.

"My uncle has been wrong before." He grimaced. "He has a preference for strong women, and-"

"Stop. Please. I get it. My own dad is…" She shuddered, then squared her shoulders. She drew a slow, grudging breath. "With everyone so… _distracted_…it's probably a good idea to keep another pair of eyes on Aang." She coughed. "So to speak."

Zuko couldn't suppress a smile. "You tell Aang. I'll tell Toph."

She nodded, her expression curdling at the irrepressible smile on Zuko's face. "Good luck. I hated sharing a tent with my brother."

"Did he ever smother you as a joke?"

_"Huh?"_

"Never mind. You wouldn't get it." He moved toward Toph's room. "Aang should be with Appa."

"I know where he is, Zuko," she lied.

He shrugged, and knocked on Toph's door. Toph stuck her head out. "Twinkletoes and I are bunking together. Got it." She shut the door. A second later, it creaked open again. Toph pointed at the stretch of wall nearest Katara. "And quit lying!"

From behind Iroh's door, a very soft snort of laughter could be heard.

* * *

Katara had never appreciated the fact that they had a routine at the Temple until their "guests" interrupted it. Before her father and General Iroh's arrival, things proceeded at a leisurely-but-workable pace: she woke up, found the tea Zuko made, tried to stomach it, made breakfast, and watched the others filter in to eat. Then Zuko and Aang went off to shoot fire at each other, Sokka, Haru, Teo and The Duke tried new recipes for homemade blasting jelly (or whatever it was they did; she was never too clear on it), and Toph took what she called "the mid-morning nap." Then Aang and Zuko returned, did their physical exercises (Toph usually woke up around then to sit on Zuko's back as he did push-ups), bathed, ate lunch, and Aang was either Toph's or Katara's for the afternoon. Katara had him help her with domestic waterbending -- cleaning vegetables, washing Appa, doing laundry -- and interspersed it with the martial forms they knew. When he belonged to Toph, she foraged for food. Then dinner, then cleaning up, then maybe a bath, then bedtime -- that was a good day.

She tried to take the sweet, strong tea waiting for her the next morning as an omen of good days to come. Then she noticed the pack of Stormbenders picking at her carefully-measured rations, and everyone's tea froze inside their cups. "I just wanted to make some breakfast for your father, Katara," Akna said, stirring up a pot of something sweet (and wasting all the honey in the process).

"I know exactly what you want to do," Katara said in a low voice. "And quit using that spoon with that pot! You'll ruin the glaze!"

"She gets like this sometimes," Sokka said to Suki.

"Sometimes?" Teo asked.

Things failed to improve after that. Her father stuck to his room like the invalid he was -- where he could be looked after by Akna the Healing Hussy -- and avoided Katara, and Sokka and Haru decided it was time they join Zuko and Aang's workouts. So now she had four dirty, hungry boys -- she didn't count Iroh, Iroh was a man -- who reeked of sweat and ate twice as much lunch as before, and refused to wear shirts "on account of the weather." (Even Toph snickered at that poor excuse, as Haru tried strutting his stuff for some clearly-amused Stormbender girls.)

Then Aang said it was time for waterbending practice, and she gratefully changed clothes and headed for the fountain. Where her father -- miraculously roused from his bed by Akna's healing powers, no doubt -- promptly chewed her out for wearing the wrong thing: "Go back to your room and change, young lady!"

"No! These are my waterbending clothes!"

"They're underwear!" Grimacing, Hakoda drew himself to his full height and pointed at her. "I know you're used to your freedom-"

"You're right! I am! And you're not going to take it from me!" Katara listened to the ensuing silence and wondered when exactly she had started sounding like Toph. Light footsteps sounded in the hall and she saw Zuko wandering down toward the fountain, empty sack in hand. He took in the scene before him, blinked, and began turning away.

"Does my daughter wear these clothes every time she practices?" Hakoda asked.

Zuko froze mid-step. "I wouldn't know," he said, not turning around. "I don't stick around to watch."

"You don't?"

A pause. "No, sir."

"You should ask Twinkletoes," Toph said, biting into an apple. "He's the one who trains with her."

Hakoda's eyes swung on the Avatar. Aang reddened considerably, and Toph looked distinctly pleased with herself. Katara shot her a look she knew Toph couldn't see. "The dress," her dad said. "Now."

"Or what?"

He gave her his _I'm not hearing arguments_ look. "Or your friends will learn some very charming stories about your little girl years."

Growling, Katara did her best to stomp down the hall. It was surprisingly difficult, in bare feet. Zuko glued himself to a wall as she passed. He was gone when she re-emerged wearing her Fire Nation clothes -- surely her dad couldn't object to a nice silk robe, could he?

"What a lovely color," General Iroh said, when she returned.

She looked at her father. "See? General Iroh likes it."

"General Iroh likes a lot of things," Xiao Zhi said, from her position near a pillar. She lit the tip of her finger, and applied it to a long pipe. Katara smelled sweet, flowery smoke.

Iroh turned to the Stormbender. "I especially enjoy wild orchid tobacco."

"Nice try, General."

Iroh leaned around Katara, spying Zuko with his sack. "And where do you think you're going, my nephew?"

"Out," was Zuko's answer.

"Not today, you're not," Xiao Zhi said, exhaling smoke. "Stormbending is something waterbenders and firebenders do together. Your afternoons belong to us from now on." She looked at Katara. "And so do your mornings, Painted Lady."

Katara's jaw dropped. "How did you…?"

Xiao Zhi flipped a Pai Sho tile in the air. "I have ears like a wolf-bat."

Iroh piped up: "On the contrary, Xiao Zhi, you have beautiful ears."

Katara heard Zuko's palm make contact with his face. Staring at the older woman, Katara again had the sense that she should know her, but had no clue why. Sighing, she listened to the sound of birds calling far away. Those birds had it made -- when things got awkward, they could just fly away. And she suspected that bird-parents didn't make unexpected visits on their bird-children's nests that totally threw everything in their little bird-lives for a loop.

"Did you hear what I said, Katara?"

She startled. "What was that?"

Xiao Zhi nodded toward the fountain. "The Avatar is waiting."

Aang smiled as Katara joined him. They both drew water to themselves, leaning in and out as they traded volleys of water. Aang made a penta-pus, she made ice-arrows. Like the good old days, really, back when it was all koi-riding and Fire Days festivals and dressing up in Avatar Kyoshi's clothes. She felt her nerves recede gently with the familiar motions. Aang made two water-whips and used them as blades to make tiny cuts in the stone: "Good job, Aang!"

"That's enough," Xiao Zhi said.

Katara dropped her water. "_Excuse me?_ I'm Aang's teacher, I'll say when-"

"You're holding back." Xiao Zhi exhaled smoke. "You've gotten complacent."

"You think I'm _lazy?"_

"Katara's not lazy," Aang said. "She works really hard!"

"She works very hard to take care of you and the others, not to train you," Xiao Zhi said. "She is a master waterbender wasting her gift on housework. It's no wonder she didn't think to put her bloodbending to good use on the Day of Black Sun. She was worried about whether you had a hole in your socks."

"I'm right here, you know," Katara said, hands shaking with rage. "If you have a problem with my bending, just say so."

Xiao Zhi blinked, lizard-like. "All right. I think your bending is simple and uncreative. I'm beginning to wonder what truth there is to the stories I've heard."

"What have you heard?"

Xiao Zhi's pipe flared orange. "That you're the best."

Katara flushed. "Well, I've never said that-"

"She _is_ the best," Aang said, his fists tightening.

"Is that so?" Xiao Zhi said. "Is that why you failed under Ba Sing Se? Because of your waterbending teacher?"

Aang blushed. "I…"

"Hold on," Zuko said, straightening. "The Avatar didn't fail. _I_ failed _him_. Azula hurt him and that's _my_ fault. Aang didn't do anything wrong." He glanced at Katara quickly. "And neither did she," he added.

One of Xiao Zhi's thin, silvery eyebrows arched. "So you have heard the stories, too?"

"I didn't hear the stories. I _am_ the story." He pointed out to the chasm. "I've been up one side of this world and down the other. I've faced benders from both Poles. I know what I'm talking about." When Xiao Zhi said nothing, he pointed at Katara. "She fights like a demon! You haven't seen it! You have no idea-"

"Show me," Xiao Zhi said.

"Excuse me?"

"We've seen her spar with the Avatar. Let's see something new."

"It's nothing new," Katara said. "It hasn't even been that long."

"A few weeks," Zuko said. "I'm good, now; I'm trying not to-"

"Then it shouldn't bother you to practice with her," Xiao Zhi said. "It should be an academic exercise, nothing more. It's not as though you're fighting for your honor anymore, is it?"

Zuko's lips firmed. "Fine." He turned to Katara and spoke through his teeth. "Will you please do me the honor of dueling with me?"

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine," she said, rolling her eyes. They assumed starting positions.

"Uh, you guys might want to step back," Aang said. "This could get messy."

"I certainly hope so," Xiao Zhi said. She clapped her hands together. _"Begin!"_

Katara wasted no time. She bent a thick rope of water at Zuko's ankles. He leapt up and forward, somersaulting across the floor and firing from a lunging position. She raised a shield of ice, then spliced it into a dozen spears; he gloved his hands in fire and batted them away like cobwebs as he advanced. She slid one foot out and made him slip on sudden ice; his legs scissored up through the air and created a ring of fire -- she had to jump up just to avoid it and then he was right up under her guard, his flaming fists narrowly avoiding her ears. They wove around each other -- she tried grabbing his fists with water and missed twice -- until she made a gauntlet of ice and punched him right in the mouth. He reeled backward, more stunned than hurt, holding his jaw. They stared at each other, panting.

"Not the face," he said, and started running for her.

Katara grinned. She made stairways of ice for him and he jogged right up them, not slipping an inch, flipping off them with a foot that trailed fire. She caught one of his feet with a sleeve of water and grabbed his hand with the other one; making him hop on one foot the way his sister had when she first tried this trick. Then he smirked and threw himself on the ground, started rolling himself in ropes of water, dragging her to her knees. He barreled right under her. "You're all tied up," Katara said, tightening her hold. "Too bad there isn't a tree nearby."

"Duck."

"What?"

Fire bloomed inside his mouth and she dodged away from it just as it streamed away from his lips. She relinquished her grip and water splashed across both of them as she fell across Zuko, shielding her face. She felt the muscles in his torso relax when his breath was finished, and poked her head up. Her hair was wet, as was her robe and therefore her stomach: "Great. Now I'm soaked." She sat up and wrung out her hair.

"Good show," Xiao Zhi said, smiling around her pipe. "Now if only you could bend that way all the time."

Zuko propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Xiao Zhi. "It was better last time." He steamed his clothes dry. "We were…angrier."

"That is sometimes known to happen," Iroh said. He smiled at both of them.

Hakoda' stared open-mouthed at Katara. His hand wrapped around the other man's arm. "I just forgot something I wanted to ask General Iroh about."

"Oh, dear," Iroh said. "I was afraid you'd say that."

"What's he talking about?" Aang asked.

"No clue," Zuko said, watching the two men leave.

Xiao Zhi smirked. "Up and at 'em, kids. Daylight's wasting."

* * *

**Note: I just want to thank everyone who reviewed. You guys rock! **

**Some readers may wonder if the stormbender Xiao Zhi is the same woman as the one found in **_**Ozai's Vengeance.**_** They look exactly alike, and are very alike character-wise. There is one significant difference between the two, however, and you will likely discover it in the next chapter. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Stormbenders**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, and Paramount. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: I apologize for not replying to my reviews! Trust me -- I read your reviews, and they meant the world to me. Please keep them coming! Also, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but thanks to AKAVertigo for the storm quotes!**

* * *

Why, what's the matter,  
That you have such a February face,  
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness? _--William Shakespeare_

* * *

"Katara."

She slapped the hand away.

"Katara." Gentle fingers closed around her shoulder and shook it. She curled away. He made a displeased noise. "Katara, come on, please…" Despairing, he resorted to the magic words: "I have tea?"

Grudgingly, Katara opened her eyes and sat up. "It's still dark, Aang."

"Actually, it's a little bit light out," he said. He lifted one palm. A ball of fire hovered inside it. "I just didn't want to trip on anything."

"What's going on?" she asked, scrubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Uh, well, General Iroh and the others got to talking and they decided you should be part of morning practice," he said, wincing. He braced himself, possibly expecting an onslaught of pillows. "I guess they want to teach me stormbending right away, and they said you should learn too."

"Great. Stormbending. Let me guess: Mistress Hatchet-face and Akna the Healing Hussy sent you."

"Zuko will be there, too," Aang said. She sent him a look that said he had grown a second head, and Aang grimaced. "I guess that doesn't help much."

She sighed. "As long as you're happy, then I'm happy. May I please have some of that tea, now?"

"Sure," Aang said, and held it out. "I'll, uh, see you outside."

Katara took the tea, mustered a smile, and watched him go. Then, wincing against the soreness from yesterday's match with Zuko, she very calmly picked up her pillow and screamed into it.

* * *

The morning air carried a hint of cool, dewy dampness, but Katara sensed the heat underlying it. They had only a little while before the sun really started to climb. Then standing outside would become unbearable unless she clothed herself in water or ice. Which Katara suspected might be a good idea, if Xiao Zhi indulged in her weird need to have them all fight each other.

"Jook?" Iroh said, handing her a steaming bowl of porridge. The mixture smelled sweet and was studded with nuts and odd little pieces of what she guessed were fruit.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I learned this recipe in Ba Sing Se. Of course here we don't have those delightful green grapes. They make the most delightful raisins…"

"Just eat it," Zuko advised, before tipping the whole bowl in his mouth and drinking it.

"I'd like a spoon, please," Katara said.

"No time," Xiao Zhi said. "Eat now or don't eat at all. We don't have time for dawdlers."

"I'm not _dawdling,_ I just want a civilized breakfast!" She pointed at the kitchen. It was crowded with Stormbenders in black, all of whom ate standing up, or took bites between drags on their pipes. Only a few of them spoke. "You know, before you got here, we all ate together as a family."

"You're soldiers, now," Xiao Zhi said calmly. "You can have as many family meals as you want when the Avatar has defeated the Fire Lord."

"Yeah, Katara, it'll be great," Aang said, positioning himself between the two women. He hove into her line of sight as though to distract her. "We'll have great big family dinners! I'll show you how to make fruit pies!"

Katara briefly pictured Xiao Zhi's face covered in gooey fruit and pastry. She grinned. "Sounds great, Aang." Smiling as she further imagined her revenge, she drank down her jook, and discovered it was actually good -- Iroh knew his stuff. His porridge was sweet and spicy and interesting, filled with juicy little morsels and crunchy toasted nuts. (She suspected the old man had candied them somehow; she'd have to ask.) When she tipped the bowl back down, Aang broke into a fit of giggles. He pointed at her. Katara frowned. "What's wrong?"

"You look like Haru!"

"Huh?"

"You've got…" Zuko gestured at his face.

"Get a move on, kids," Xiao Zhi said. "That sun's just getting hotter."

"Oh, for…" Zuko rolled his eyes, swiped a thumb across Katara's upper lip, and sucked on it. "Jook-stache," he said, and hastened after his uncle.

Katara felt a familiar twitch in her eyebrow. She scrubbed at her lip with the back of her hand. "Did he just put that in his _mouth?"_

"Toph must really be rubbing off on him," Aang said, eyebrows lifting. "Let's go."

* * *

The stormbending lesson began with neither storms nor bending. It began with meditation. A special kind of meditation, according to Iroh, who stood before them with his hair neatly tied back. They had moved to another tier of the temple. Behind Iroh, Katara saw a rainbow forming in the mist. "Miss Katara, you will recognize these forms as your own," he said. "They are based on the Northern Water Style, but they move much more slowly. All three of you may find it difficult at first to slow down and focus. But when you do, your mind will be open to learning a new method of bending."

"It's all right if you don't get it at first," Xiao Zhi said, in a rare display of humanity. "General Iroh wasn't so hot at it to begin with."

"Must you give away all my secrets?"

"This is where you learned how to re-direct lightning," Zuko said, leaning forward. "You said you learned from watching waterbenders."

"That is correct, my nephew," Iroh said. "When I was a younger man, I did not have the benefit of a flying bison to carry me over the jungle surrounding the Sun Warrior lands. The Stormbenders were charged with patrolling those jungles to protect the Sun Warriors from intruders. I met them along the way."

"We trapped you like a hogmonkey in a cage," Xiao Zhi said.

"And I fought my way out admirably," Iroh said. A smile tugged at his lips. "I also recall charming a certain squad commander into letting me pass through the jungle."

"That's funny, General, because I seem to recall you begging."

"Kneeling may have been involved," Iroh conceded.

Zuko's palm connected with his face. "Can we please just start meditating?"

"I think it's a nice story," Aang said.

"You would," Zuko said.

"Let this be another lesson to you, Avatar Aang," Iroh said, raising one finger. "No woman can resist a man who can play the suungi horn."

"Girls like suungi horns?" Aang glanced at Katara. "Because in school-"

"Honestly, General Iroh," Akna said, striding to the center of the room. "I'm going to have to keep you two separated!"

Katara folded her arms. "What is _she_ doing here?"

"Akna is a master waterbender like yourself," Xiao Zhi said. "She is also a healing bloodbender. If something goes wrong, we need her."

"And I can't do my best if I'm not properly relaxed, so let's get the meditation started." Akna stretched one leg out and leaned deeply into the stretch, moving her center of balance and then stretching the other leg. As she moved, her hands crossed one another before curving outward, palms up. Katara recognized the form. She watched as Akna continued the movement, connecting forms like the water whip and the tidal push into a slow, intricate dance.

"It's like the Dancing Dragon," Aang said. "Only a lot slower."

"And with different steps," Zuko said.

"This motion will help familiarize you with the blood in your own body," Akna said, breathing deeply as she began the steps again. "Soon, you'll begin to feel more connected to the water that is all around us and inside us. Fire is energy, but water is life. Without both sun and rain, we would have no trees, no flowers, no fruit."

"And that is the essence of stormbending," Iroh said. "Balance."

"Now you try," Akna said, resuming her starting position.

Reluctantly, Katara stood and faced Akna while the two boys stood up behind her. The other woman smiled at her serenely. Katara didn't return it. She had no desire to learn anything more about the blood inside her body or the water in the air. When she watched Akna's fingers tracing the air she imagined them coated in icy talons, and when she saw Akna sweep her bronzed arms across her body she remembered the surprising strength in Hama's limbs, a strength born of madness and hate. What were these waterbenders doing in the Fire Nation? They had been there since Iroh's time -- what business did they have living on someone else's land? They had two whole Poles to choose from! Why-

"Katara, is your stomach okay?" Aang asked.

"My stomach's fine, Aang."

"'Cause you look like-"

"Cut the chatter, Avatar," Xiao Zhi said. "Focus on the steps."

"Yes, ma'am," Aang said meekly.

"These old bones could use some exercise, too," Iroh said. He moved into step beside Akna. If possible, he moved even slower than she did. Katara felt warmer just standing near him; when he breathed out she was surprised not to see sparks flying from his nose. The thought made her giggle and break her concentration; she missed a step.

"Focus," Xiao Zhi said in a stern voice.

Katara caught Aang's eye and made a sour face as she tried to catch up. Aang couldn't suppress his laughter. He shook with it, silently, before popping like an overfull dumpling. "I'm sorry," he said. "Katara was making this really funny face…"

Silence. Xiao Zhi sucked her teeth. "Since the Avatar is so good at watching his waterbending teacher, perhaps he would learn better by sitting this one out and letting the big kids play," she said. "Katara. Zuko. Up here."

"That's not necessary," Katara said. "Aang can focus. Right, Aang?"

"Right," Aang said.

Xiao Zhi blinked. "I wasn't asking your opinion," she said. "Our job is to teach the Avatar. You can either help me, or go."

"You don't need to be so harsh, Xiao Zhi," Akna said, putting her hands on her hips.

"The war is harsh, Akna. The Fire Lord is harsh." Xiao Zhi turned to Zuko. One sparse eyebrow arched. "Isn't he, Prince Zuko?"

Katara had the feeling she had missed something from the way Zuko stiffened. His good eye narrowed and his jaw set. Katara recognized that look. She had been on the receiving end of it, once, before he sent her crashing into a glacier. _Do it,_ a wicked part of her urged Zuko. _Burn her to a crisp! _But he didn't. He exhaled loudly, nostrils flaring, and turned to Aang. "You have to learn to re-direct lightning."

Aang sighed. "I know, but I just started firebending. Shouldn't I master that first, then move on to the more complicated stuff?"

"You're best at firebending when you remember to concentrate," Zuko said. "And you'll have to concentrate in order to learn this." He smiled. "But you're already a better bender than I am. You just need practice." He locked eyes with Katara over Aang's head. "Right?"

She blinked. Zuko only increased the intensity of his stare. "Oh, right, absolutely!" Katara said. "You'll pull it off in no time. Remember how I could barely do the water whip, but you got it right away?"

Iroh smothered a snicker behind his hand. Katara shot him a dirty look and he straightened up. She turned back to Aang. "You won't know until you try," she said.

"And neither will you," Xiao Zhi said. She jerked her head toward the balcony. "Get outside."

"Would it hurt her to say 'please'?" Katara asked under her breath.

Zuko rolled his neck. Katara heard a distinct _pop_ and he winced. "We can only hope."

"Hey, you made a joke!" Aang's eyes went shifty. "Don't tell Sokka."

"Sometime today would be nice," Xiao Zhi called from her position on the balcony. Grimacing, Katara trudged over to her. "Get your water out."

Gritting her teeth, Katara uncorked her skins and let the water free. She bristled as Akna took a position beside her. "What are you doing?"

"Just follow me," Akna said. "Try to bend a whirlpool. No, no, not so big. Try smaller movements. Otherwise the energy might get away from you."

"Should I try?" Aang asked, flitting over and preparing his hands.

"No," Akna said. "It's important that the lightning only have one place to go. If there is too much water, the lightning will escape from Zuko."

"If I can even generate it," Zuko said.

"Just practice the motion, Aang," Katara said. She focused on shrinking her whirlpool. Right now it looked like a big messy ball of water, but when she dipped her hands inside it narrowed, like the clay she'd seen on a potter's wheel in Ba Sing Se. When her hand pulled up, so did the water, and for a moment she had a vase-like shape.

"That's good," Akna said. "But you won't be able to touch the water like that. You have to tighten it with bending, like this."

Akna extended her hand toward the railing. Katara watched as mist from the crevasse twined up her arm like a cool, translucent snake before collecting into a single lump that Akna split into two thin ribbons of water. They twined about one another like two fish -- like Tui and La, the fish at the Spirit Oasis. They never touched, but spun faster and faster, closer and closer, until Katara had to squint to see the thread of air separating them. Abruptly, Akna split them into a series of watery threads frozen to her fingers. They flashed upward to catch a falling leaf; the leaf shredded into tiny pieces that fluttered slowly to the stones at their feet.

"Showoff," Xiao Zhi said.

"Jealous," Akna said. She flashed Katara dazzling smile. "One day you'll learn how to do that, if you can focus your bending enough."

Katara looked at the ice coating Akna's fingers. "I think I'm fine without it," she said. "Can we just work on the stormbending?"

Akna's smile faltered. "Of course. Try to make the whirlpool a little smaller this time. Zuko, follow Katara in reverse. Don't try to create the lightning right away, just concentrate on learning the form."

Katara tried forming the whirlpool under Zuko's watchful gaze. With that scowl and the way his eyes focused, he looked like a little bit like the assassin he'd sent after them. Sparky Booming Explosion Guy, or whatever Sokka called him. But then he moved into a bending posture and he was himself again, fingers out as his hands moved in opposing circles. Satisfied, Katara concentrated on her whirlpool; she tightened her hold on the water and wove it tighter, remembering the ball of yarn form she'd used at the Spirit Oasis, remembering the way the water told her about Zuko struggling under all those cold skeins of fluid and tension, refusing to be tied down.

"Katara, have you ever seen a storm at sea?" Iroh asked.

Katara pushed air past her teeth. "Of course I have." She bent the water even tighter, spinning it until it wobbled and went ovoid. "I lived by the ocean until you two showed up."

Iroh didn't rise to the bait. "Then you know that lightning is naturally attracted to water," he said. "In order to create lightning, firebenders separate the positive and negative aspects of the energy around them. But those two aspects aren't meant to be apart. They need each other. When they come back together, they're like two lovers finally embracing after a long separation." He winked. "There's some heat."

Xiao Zhi snorted. Zuko rolled his eyes, but kept stirring the air. He moved with greater certainty now -- how come he was so good at stealing her moves? -- and the first fingers of each hand stroked the air as though skimming custard off the top of an unattended dessert. "That heat needs somewhere to go," Iroh said, as they moved. Zuko followed her better, now, he leaned when she leaned and wove as she wove. "Firebenders who have achieved the proper peace of mind can help direct it. But because of the natural attraction between water and lightning, waterbenders can channel it even further."

"Wow," Aang said quietly.

"It's just the law of-" Iroh stopped and stared at his nephew. "Oh." He smiled. "That's very good, my nephew."

Katara watched Zuko's hands. Soft shimmers of blue light trailed from them. "I didn't mean to," Zuko said. Sweat had bloomed along his hairline. He kept moving but watched the lightning warily with his good eye. "What do I do?"

"Add it to the water and shoot it," Xiao Zhi said.

"How am I supposed to add it? I can't just-"

"The water will do the work," Akna said. "Just move closer and let nature take its course."

Iroh's bushy eyebrows lifted. "I couldn't have said it better myself, my dear."

Zuko's eyes lifted. The world seemed to shrink suddenly, and the way he bit his lip made Katara remember that what they were about to do was dangerous, that this very lightning had nearly destroyed Aang, that Aang still bore that scar and that she would have one just like it if they weren't careful. "I don't want to hurt you."

_It's under my control this time. I can direct it. It won't be like with Azula. I won't let it. _"You won't."

"Are you ready?"

"…I think so."

"Are you sure?"

"Zuko, just do it already-"

But then he did, he darted in close and the lightning snaked down like it had a mind of its own, and for a moment they held a glowing ball of liquid light between them like an enormous, luminescent pearl. And then Zuko was moving so she had to move, too, and his hands became fists and so did hers and she thought of fireballs and snowball fights as sparking, glittering balls of ice shot away from them. The cold, fiery bombs arced slowly through the air and fell, intact, into the crevasse. She and Zuko leaned over the railing to watch them fall. The mist obscured their descent. No sound echoed up to them. Birds called to one another from tree to tree. She heard the rattling of Teo's chair on the stones below.

"That's it?" she asked.

Zuko's head swung in her direction. "What, you weren't impressed?"

She shrugged. "I just thought it would be…bigger." She frowned. "You know, harder."

Zuko's good eye popped. "It wasn't _hard enough_ for you? Do you have any concept of how difficult it is for me to maintain control for that long? I could have-"

"Well, I'm sorry I'm too slow for you, Sparky, you're the one who was pussyfooting around-"

"I was holding back! Because _he_ wouldn't shut up with his stupid metaphors!" He pointed at his uncle.

"Show your uncle some respect! His metaphors are very sweet and-"

"Well you can bend with _him_ next time-"

Iroh cleared his throat. They stopped and turned slowly to look at him. The general gave them a level stare. Instantly, they straightened up. "Sorry," Zuko said. "They're, uh, great metaphors."

"Thank you, nephew."

"I want to try," Aang said, raising a tentative hand. "Now that I've seen it, I think I can do it."

Katara smiled. "That's great, Aang. Let's give it a try."

Aang assumed a position across from Katara. He smiled brightly, brought up his hands, and began the proper stirring motion. Katara borrowed some water from Akna, and wove the whirlpool once more. Aang did a good job of following her. She wasn't surprised to see streaks of fire following his fingers. His frown of concentration soon deepened into a real scowl. He stood up and the fire dissolved. "Why isn't it working?"

"Just keep trying," Zuko said. "If I can do it, you can do it."

Aang nodded, then resumed his stance. This time the fire flared in his hands almost immediately; Katara saw it turn from gold to blue to almost violet before a small explosion knocked both of them to their feet. Katara quickly raised a shield of water before skidding backward and into Akna's waiting arms. Aang coasted through the air and slid back on his behind. Zuko bent down over him and helped sit him up. He dusted him off as Aang searched Katara's face. His gray eyes had gone terribly wide beneath a fine coating of soot. "Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine. I had my water with me."

"Are you sure?"

She stretched her hands out. "See? No harm done."

"I can't do this," Aang said, turning to Zuko. "I shouldn't even be trying."

"That's not true, Aang," Katara said. "You just haven't practiced enough yet."

"I can feel the energies, right there!" Aang said, pointing at the air. "They're right in front of me, and I can't reach them!"

Xiao Zhi gestured with her pipe. "Maybe if you watched Zuko and Katara-"

"No! That won't help!"

Silence. Katara knew that tone -- Aang had made his mind up. He wouldn't budge. Any attempt to persuade him, to remind him that this was necessary and useful, would be met with increasingly Toph-like resistance. Iroh and Akna stared at Aang. They had never encountered this side of the Avatar before; they probably had some stupid idea that all Aang ever did was meditate on what was best for the world and how to improve his bending. _He's a normal kid when he's not glowing. Reminding him of everything he has to do only makes things worse. Why can't everyone see that?_

"Hey." Zuko crouched. "This happened to me too, at first. It happened over and over."

"What did you do?" Aang asked.

"I made up my mind to join you," Zuko said. "After that, my heart was clear."

"My heart has to be clear?" Aang frowned. "Isn't it clear enough already?"

"No one can answer that but you," Iroh said. "In order to create lightning you must be like the eye of the storm -- calm and untroubled." He smiled. "But don't worry. Perhaps the breakfast I made simply didn't agree with you!"

"Well, there was a lot of it…"

They all laughed. Even Xiao Zhi shook her head and smiled. Zuko sort of smirked and helped Aang up. Katara felt a touch on her shoulder. "Good job," Akna said in a conspiratorial voice. "You two bent the storm on your first try!"

Katara shrugged. "It wasn't all that-"

Someone shouted above them. Sokka. _"Help! Somebody! Katara!"_ She ran to the railing and looked down. Sokka stood only two tiers above but in a tower far to the left. Beside him, Suki jumped up and waved her arms. He carried a small green bundle in his arms -- Toph.

Zuko growled. An answering signal flare jetted from his lips. "Aang-"

"I'm on my way." Aang stomped his foot. The stones at his feet jumped and sent his staff pinwheeling through the air. He ran past Katara, spinning his arms and generating his air-scooter. Hopping on, he coasted up one pillar and kicked off it before snapping open his glider. He looked down at her. "Grab my ankles!"

Katara didn't need to be told twice; she bent Akna's water into an ice slide and ran straight up the middle and over the ledge. Only then, as the crevasse yawned open beneath her feet and the ice at her toes began to crackle, did she think to feel fear. For a single terrible moment she entered freefall. Her stomach flipped over and her hands grasped empty air. But then Aang was there and she gripped one foot then the other as he corrected for her new weight. They coasted down into mist and she caught sight of Teo's glider and he and the Duke pointing at Sokka's shape. "Hang on!"

They lifted and she squeezed her eyes shut and she tightened her grip on Aang's slim ankles. A moment later there was stone on her shin and she tumbled over and into Suki's steadying hands. Sokka pressed Toph out to her. Thin black needles studded Toph's legs and right arm, as though she had covered her face with it at the last second. Katara's heart froze. "Are those…?"

"We don't know," Sokka said. "She can't talk. I think they're poisoned."

Aang floated to the ground beside them. The breath caught in his throat. "Oh, no."

The nearest door exploded open; it came right off its hinges and fell flat. Zuko charged through, fists still flaming, a thin sheen of sweat on his face and his breath coming as fast as she'd ever seen it. He took one look at Toph and his whole face changed; the blush of exertion turned to pale fear. His mouth hardened and his posture straightened. "Who did this?"

"We don't know. We were-"

"You were _supposed_ to be gathering food with her."

"I know, but Suki and I…" Sokka blushed and faltered. Zuko's glare held its old strength; he looked ready to knock Sokka down and keep him from getting back up. But he didn't. He turned to Katara. "Get the others into the stable. If I'm not back soon, leave."

"Can't I go with you?" Aang asked. "If it's Azula and her friends-"

"If it's Azula and her friends, then there's no way he's going alone," Katara said. Her eyes narrowed. "The last thing we need is him telling them everything."

Zuko's jaw fell open. "You _still_ don't trust me? After everything that's happened, you still think-"

"I think you'll go a lot further to proving yourself if you quit arguing and help me," Katara said. She turned around. The rebuke on Aang's face was impossible to miss; she did her best to push the shame it caused aside. "Aang, take Toph to Akna. If she's half as good as she thinks she is, then she'll know what to do."

Sokka reached for his sword. "I should come, too."

Zuko was already on his way out. His shape evaporated into shadows made darker by bright morning sunlight. "You've done enough already." She heard his steps pause. "Let's go. Azula doesn't like to wait."

* * *

An hour later, Katara had begun to suspect that maybe this whole "make sure Zuko isn't Azula's spy" thing wasn't such a good idea. That was after the rhino-fly bites, the seemingly-endless hike through thick, humid cypress forest with Zuko swinging effortlessly and silently above her head, the realization that she was desperately thirsty and had brought no water -- she was a waterbender, what was she thinking? -- and the deepening dread that if Azula, the circus freak, and the needle girl _did_ attack them, she wouldn't be of much use.

She looked up at Zuko's shape in the trees. "Wouldn't they have attacked us by now?" she asked.

"Not if they were trying to trick you." He grabbed a vine and slid down; for a painful moment she remembered Jet. "If this was just one step in Azula's master plan, she'd lure you out here and destroy you."

Katara swallowed. "I've learned some new tricks since I last faced her. So she should just watch out."

Zuko threw his hands in the air. "She's not here! She's not listening! She-" He paused. His eyes searched the surrounding forest.

"She's what, Zuko? She's crazy and vindictive and-"

"Be_quiet!"_

Her heart plummeted. "Is it her?" She cast her gaze all around. Moving her arms like a scythe, she summoned water from a tree and circled it around her. "Come out, Azula!"

Something above them rustled. In unison, they looked up. Then it moved and she finally saw it. She had to dig her toes into the moss underfoot just to keep from backing away. _Why does everything have to be so big in the Fire Nation?_ It had a long, wart-ridden snout and its skin bristled with the black needles she'd seen embedded in Toph's skin. Long claws curled around the branches in the forest canopy as it moved slowly from tree to tree.

"What_is_ that thing?" Her voice had shrunk to a whisper.

"It's a senbon sloth." They watched as a slender pink tongue snaked out and tasted the air. The needles on its back shivered. "It sees us-"

Katara converted her water whip to a shield; hairline fractures appeared as the sloth's needles thudded into it. Zuko pushed ahead of her and punched clean through the ice shield with a flaming fist. A ball of fire shot straight for the sloth's tree. Zuko raised his hands like summoning a great tide, and the fire raced up the tree's trunk. The sloth squealed and tried scrambling to another tree. Its claws slipped and it fell belly-up on the ground. It shrieked and twitched. As one, they took a step back.

"It's in pain," Katara said. Her throat closed.

Zuko sighed. "So is Toph." He drew his swords.

"No, don't." She closed her eyes and forced herself to think past the sloth's visible shape and see the blood and water inside. Her hands wove through the air and the sloth stilled; she felt the hurt place inside it like a broken bridge. _Mend,_ she told the bones and sinew. _You know where you belong; just go back there._ Her fingers plucked the air and she sensed the bones shifting as though she had moved tiles on a pai sho board, as though she had pulled the right strings. When she released the sloth it trundled away, a little wobbly on its feet but no longer hurt. She saw it leave through a field of stars; the ground moved closer suddenly and roots bit into her knee.

"Hey!" Zuko. He stopped short of actually touching her, but crouched down. "What's wrong?"

"I did it…" She sighed. "I bent its blood without the full moon." Pain thundered inside her skull. She rubbed her temples. "Uh, maybe not such a great idea…"

"It was amazing."

She squinted at him. Zuko's good ear was a little pink. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, maybe you could be a veterinarian."

Katara almost relished her palm slapping her face; then it actually happened and she winced. "Let's just go home, please."

"Uh, sure." He stood. She followed slowly. Her field of vision had narrowed; she saw the forest floor as though through a spyglass. Her stomach roiled in protest as she traversed the bumpy terrain. Zuko seemed to get further and further ahead. How utterly humiliating. It was bad enough that she'd been completely wrong about Azula -- not that she wanted Azula to show up, no, she just liked being right, and so did everyone else even if they never admitted it -- and hadn't thought of something smarter to defeat the sloth, but to try fixing things by attempting fancy combination bending without the full moon…

"Hey." Zuko stopped and turned around. His shape blurred at the edges. "Are you really sick?"

"I'm fine." She blinked hard and forced herself to move three more steps. "I just have to get back." Why was it so hard to string words together? _It's only a headache. It's only a headache. _"It's only a headache."

"Okay." He turned around again and started walking. Two steps later he stopped. "Um, I want to get something nice for Toph. A get well gift."

"Oh," Katara said, nodding. "Right. Sure. Good idea."

"Thanks."

"Uh, Zuko?"

"Yes?"

"We're in a forest. They don't have shops here."

"I know that." He paused, then jerked a thumb vaguely east. "There's a sugar-wasp hive…"

"Honey," she said.

"Yes? I mean, yes. Right." He pointed at the roots of an especially broad tree. "You, can, ah, sit down. I'll be right back."

With difficulty, Katara sat down in the roots of the tree. She closed her eyes. And then time seemed to narrow down to a single pulse that was her headache, and when Zuko returned the heat was stifling and it felt like noon. She heard his steps beside her and opened her eyes to see him holding out a gourd. "Here, drink this."

She took it carefully from his hands and slid the top off the gourd. He'd hollowed it out roughly. Inside was a thin white liquid. When she sniffed it was sweet and a little sharp. But her throat and her head and her bending cried out for hydration and when she drank it was too warm but she didn't care, it was delicious and it was necessary. It dribbled back into her hair and down her neck. She pulled the gourd away and smiled. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome." He pawed at his own neck. "You have…"

"Oh, right." She tried scrubbing her neck with the back of her hand but it only smeared everything. She sighed and a damp lock of hair lifted weakly from her forehead. "I'll just take a bath when we get back." She stood up. No pain, now, and no nausea, just pleasant warmth all through her and a curious lightness, like she'd had a very nice rest. _Maybe this is how Twinkletoes feels. Did I just call him that? _She giggled. "Let's go home."

"Home," he said.

Home was easy to get to. At least, the trip back felt a lot shorter than the trip out. Maybe it was the attitude adjustment. Her fear and suspicion had evaporated. She didn't jump at every little thing, now, expecting Azula to come flying out of the trees. And she had done good work today. Stormbending. Bloodbending. Healing. _I wish I could still be the Painted Lady. _ "I wish I could still be the Painted Lady."

He snorted. "You're the Painted Lady?"

"Don't laugh at me, Jerkbender! I'm the best Painted Lady you've ever seen!"

"The Painted Lady isn't real. She's a myth."

"That's not true! I saw her!"

"Had you been drinking cactus juice?"

"No!" She poked him in the back. "And stop being funny. If Sokka finds out he'll be really mad."

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"I'm fine! Stop worrying! I'm the one who worries, not you." She poked him again. When she got him between the ribs like that he seemed all soft and fleshy and not at all threatening. "How come Toph never yells at _you_ for being all motherly?"

"…Motherly?"

"Fatherly. Whatever." A vision of a horde of tiny Zukos filled her mind; she imagined him chasing after them and grabbing them by their teeny little topknots. In her head he smoked a pipe and had big fat sideburns like his uncle. _Junior! You have lit your sister on fire for the last time!_ Laughter bubbled up out of her.

"We're here."

She tamped down her giggles. The effort distracted her and she walked straight into him. "Hey, who put this wall here?"

"Very funny." He knelt down and checked the vine.

Katara stared down at him. He looked like a sneak-thief preparing for a job, not a soldier. "It's not much of a wall. You're smaller than before."

"I'm not smaller. You just got bigger."

"Are you calling me fat?"

Zuko pinched his nose. "No." He stood. "It's the shoulder-guards. You're just remembering what those looked like."

"No, I remember without the shoulder guards, too. I remember at the Spirit Oasis you had those weird clothes and you were bigger, your shoulders were all big and you threw me into a glacier." She brandished a finger at him. "That wasn't very nice, you know. I had bruises."

"Bruises."

"Uh huh. And when you tied me to the tree I was all red right here." She rubbed her wrists. "And after Ba Sing Se…" She frowned. "Azula hurt me. Not you. Well, physically."

"Physically?"

"Right. Just, the part where you betrayed us. That was bad enough. But then Azula slammed me against those crystals and I had this big lump." She pointed at her head. "I couldn't sleep on that side at all."

"You've suffered terribly," Zuko said. "Can you climb down?"

Katara peered down the rock face. She pouted. "I wish I were Toph. Then I could make a little lifting thing."

"An elevator?"

"One of those."

Zuko ran a hand over his face. "We'll go together." He picked up the vine and handed it to her. "Stand right here."

"I don't take orders from you, Mister Former Fire Prince," she said, gripping the vine. He stepped behind her and he was warm and his hands rested above hers. "Hey, your hands are different, too."

He let go and she fell a little and the descent was awkward and not at all graceful. She didn't land so much as fall. He swung in behind her with a red face. He licked his lips and smoothed his hands down his legs as though to wipe his palms clean. "Let's go see Toph."

For some reason she couldn't quite remember where Toph's room was. Her feet got away from her a little. Zuko had to remind her: "It's over here." Toph lay on her stomach. Akna sat beside her, using waterbending to work the sloth's needles free. The water surrounding each needle glowed before the offending weapon popped free.

"Sparky, Sweetness," Toph said tiredly.

"Hey there, champ," Zuko said, and entered the room. "Guess what I've got?"

"Sloth's head on a platter."

"Almost. This tastes better." He reached inside his shirt and brought forth a carefully-folded leaf. Inside was a whole section of honeycomb. He pulled some free. "Open the loading dock…"

Toph stuck her tongue out. "You're such a wuss, Sparky." She opened her mouth. He put the little bite on her tongue. "Mmm. Melty." Toph turned it around in her mouth. "Everybody thought it was that girl with the needles."

"Mai," Zuko said. "Her name is Mai."

"Needles. Right. Everyone thought it was her." Toph yawned. "But I kept telling Snoozles I would have felt the footsteps." She picked honeycomb from her teeth. "Needles has big feet."

Zuko stifled a laugh. All three women stared at him. "You can laugh, Zuko," Katara said. "She did have big feet. Not Kyoshi-big, but big."

"Not that big feet are bad," Toph said. "Just. You know. Wow."

"Mai has very good balance and posture," Zuko said.

"And big feet," Toph said. "Stretch and Crazy have little feet."

_"Stretch and Crazy?"_ Zuko's palm hit his face. "Please don't ever call them that to their faces."

"Pfft." Toph waved his concerns away. "I can take 'em." She reached out. "More honey, please." Zuko held the leaf out and placed her hand on it. "Katara, you should try this. It's all warm."

"He carried it in his shirt, Toph." Katara looked at the honeycomb again. "It does look really good, though." She swooped down on the honeycomb and pinched some free. Just as Toph had promised, it was warm and melty and sweet. Her tongue drifted over the grooves of the comb. "This is really good, Zuko. It doesn't taste like you at all."

Akna coughed suddenly. "Katara, maybe you should eat some lunch."

"Yeah, Katara, are you okay?"

"Why does everyone keep asking that? I'm fine! I feel great!" She pointed. "You just want all the honey for yourself!"

"Lunch is a good idea," Zuko said. He pulled Katara's elbow gently. "Come on. If we don't eat something now, Sokka and the others will get it all."

"Ooh, that Sokka, I'm gonna get him," Katara said, as he led her out the door. She swerved and almost made Zuko trip. She leaned back and waved. "'Bye, Toph!"

"Later, Sweetness."

"Let's go." Zuko started walking. "Katara, it's this way."

She turned around. "Right. I knew that." Katara ran ahead and entered the kitchen. The others looked up. Her father, Iroh, Aang, and Sokka frowned up at her. She beamed and put her hands to her hips. "Mission accomplished! We showed that boss who was sloth!" She frowned. "I mean, the other way around."

Her father's frown deepened. "Katara, are you feeling well?"

"I'm_fine!_ I keep telling you!" She sighed and sat down. "I just had a headache. But it's all gone now."

"It is?" Zuko appeared behind her. "Well, that's good…"

"What headache?" Aang asked. "What happened?"

"Yeah, Sparky, what happened?" Sokka asked.

"Well, there was this sloth-"

"And we totally nailed it," Katara said. "I was all _whoosh_ and he was all _fwah_ and the sloth was all _eek_ so I had to fix it."

Iroh lifted his teacup. "That sounds very…intense."

"It was! But that's not even the best part! I did healing bloodbending!" She gestured with her fingers, as though manipulating a puppet. "I reached right inside him and put all the bones back in place. And I did it without a full moon!"

"That's very tough to do," Xiao Zhi said. "Did you tell Akna about this?"

"Akna. Please. Like I'd tell the Healing Hussy anything." Her eyes widened. "Sorry, Dad. I know you have a major crush on her and everything."

Her father winced, and hunched forward. "You said you were feeling better?"

"Oh, yeah! Zuko gave me this great drink and now I'm good as new!" She held her arms out. Her skin tingled as she stretched and fell backward. Her limbs suddenly felt pleasantly heavy and her eyes drifted closed. "I want a nap…"

"Nephew," she heard Iroh say, "where did this drink come from, exactly?"

"Kallu tree," Zuko replied. His weight settled beside her on the stone. She smelled pickled plums and heard him slurping noodles.

"Ah, the kallu," Iroh said. "A plant known for its _medicinal_ properties."

"You always drank its sap when you weren't feeling well," Zuko said. "You know, after you stayed up too late on music nights?"

"Iroh plays the suungi horn," Katara said. "Girls like it."

"Oh, right," Iroh said. "Music night. Well."

"Sparky, did you get my sister _drunk?_"

Katara giggled. "He's not _that_ stupid, Sokka."

"Exactly," Zuko said. She heard more slurping. "Besides. That would be wrong."

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," Katara said. "Sparky's bad at being good."

"You're tired," Zuko said. "You did some tough bending today."

Katara slit one eye open. "We got it right our first try." She spoke in a stage whisper. "We're super special secret hero stormbenders."

She heard a collective _slap_ of palms on foreheads.

* * *

**Notes:**

**Kallu is a variety of palm wine that is drunk in Sri Lanka and parts of India. It comes from the sap of the palm flower, and due to natural yeasts in the containers used to carry the sap, it can ferment to four percent alcohol in as little as two hours. (According to Wikipedia.) When Zuko says that Iroh drank the sap of this tree after music night, he's referring to the fact that Iroh would drink too much on those evenings and needed a little hair of the dog, as it were, to get himself back up to speed.**

** Some of you may notice similarities between this chapter and certain parts of both the _Three Drinks_ and _Three Chores_ series. They're intentional -- I like those stories a lot and this was a fun way to play with the same themes. More plot next time, I swear!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Stormbenders

**Stormbenders**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, and Paramount. No profit is made by this story.**

**Thanks: My f-list, especially AKAVertigo and Orepookpook who provided me with fresh art; and everyone at Capstara and KZ for being SUPPORTIVE and AWESOME. Extra-special thanks to Orepookpook for discussing the finer points of the Yu Yan form with me.**

* * *

Nights of storm, days of mist, without end;  
Sad days when the sun  
Shone in vain: old griefs and griefs  
Not yet begun. _--Edward Thomas_

* * *

When her eyes opened, a strange sweetness coated her tongue. Honey and something else -- Kallu, Zuko had called it. She still remembered. She had fallen asleep, though. When was that? In the afternoon? Later? The sky had gone violet, now -- twilight was almost over. Someone must have walked her -- carried her? -- to her room. When she stretched she detected no stars in her vision, felt no crushing pain in her head. When she stood, her stomach didn't protest except to tell her how empty it was. _Dinner time._

But when she raised her arms to stretch, her nose told her differently: _Bath time._ She sniffed her hair: the kallu sap was still there, too, and it coated her neck where she'd tried to rub it away. "Bath time it is," she said, and grabbed a towel. _If you arrived home tipsy and loud, the least you can do is come to dinner clean._

Her plans for a quick rinse were dashed, however, by the presence of Akna and another Stormbender, Ju Li, in the bathing chamber. "Hello, Katara," Akna said. "Feeling better?"

"I'm just fine, thank you," Katara said. Her hands hesitated at the knots on her dress. She had been naked in front of Toph any number of times, but Toph could not see her. And sure, she slept and bent in her underwear, but-

"Go ahead," Akna said. "We're all Water Tribe women in one way or another."

Katara had her doubts about that. Still, she wasn't getting any cleaner just standing there. She undid the knots and slid the clothes down before folding them and hanging them over the edge of the bathing trough. She slid in and reached for the soap.

"Ju Li got the water warm," Akna said.

"Oh, thank you," Katara said. "It's, um, very nice."

Ju Li shrugged and draped a washcloth over her eyes. "Don't let me fall asleep."

Akna nodded. "Sure." She looked at Katara. "Would you like some help with your hair?"

"What's wrong with it?" Katara asked.

"Oh, nothing," Akna said. "I just thought I could wash it for you."

Katara frowned. This woman was twice Sokka's age and twice as obvious about sucking up. "You don't have to be extra nice to me, you know. My dad likes you already."

Akna pinked. "I know how your father feels, Katara. And…I feel the same about him."

Katara's grip on the bar of soap tightened and she started scrubbing. "Well, good luck to you, then," she said. "I hope you like snow, because the South Pole is full of it."

"I've never seen snow," Akna said. "Well, not real snow. Only what I can freeze. I've never left this jungle."

Katara paused. "Really? Never?"

"Just once," Akna said. "Helping your father escape was the first time I had ever left. The Stormbenders have to live in harmony with the Sun Warriors -- if someone finds us, they could find them, too. So we have to keep ourselves hidden."

"But what if you want to leave?"

Akna's face darkened. "We can't." Her face changed and she offered a smile. "I suppose I'm trying to say that I'm a little jealous of you. You're a great bender, you have your whole life ahead of you, and you've already seen more of the world than most people."

Katara lathered her hands and ran them through her hair. "I guess so…" She had never really thought of it, before. She had been up one end of the world and down the other. She had seen both Poles, eaten with kings, battled royalty, and met knowledge spirits and women who could see the future. "It's all because of Aang, though," she said. "If it weren't for him, I'd still be at the South Pole."

"That's not true," Akna said. "Even if you stayed, you would still be the person that the Avatar chose to accompany him on his journey. He recognized something about you that was special. And it wasn't just your bending."

Katara hugged her knees and remembered the hot, quick impression of his lips on hers, the way his eyes had closed, the way he held on to her and kissed goodbye like someone just going out the door, like she'd seen her dad kiss her mom sometimes during the busy seasons. "I'm not sure what he saw."

"He saw _you_," Ju Li said from under her washcloth. "That was enough."

Akna smiled. "It was more than your bending. But it was also more than your looks."

Horror spread out from Katara's stomach to her limbs. "Wait, you guys _know_-"

"Oh, come on," Ju Li said. "It's obvious."

"What Ju Li means to say is that we've all been there before," Akna said. Her face softened. "It must be very awkward for you, sometimes."

Katara settled her chin on her knees. _Not as awkward as it is right now._ "A little…"

"Let's get your hair washed," Akna said. She stood up and sloshed over to Katara. Taking up the soap, she lathered Katara's scalp in gentle, no-nonsense strokes. "You have so much hair! How in the world do you manage?"

"…I used to braid it. But now it's too humid." _Are we actually discussing hair?_

"I would cut it with bending, but a hot knife is actually better for the follicle," Akna said. "Maybe Zuko-"

_"No."_

"Okay, okay, just making a suggestion…" Akna kneaded Katara's scalp. Katara had to squint to avoid getting soap in her eyes. "You know, you two did very well together today."

"Thanks. Again."

"I mean it," Akna said. "Almost no one gets stormbending on their first try." She combed the hair out with her fingers. "You two must trust each other a great deal."

Katara pulled away and twisted around to look at the other waterbender. "Are you _crazy?_ Zuko is a traitor! The only thing he can be relied upon to do is what's best for him!"

"So that's why he got you drunk," Ju Li said. "It was good for _him_."

"Ju Li!" Akna bent up a little wave of water that splashed against the other woman. "I'm sure he was a perfect gentleman."

"Is the General a perfect gentleman?"

Akna laughed. "You may have a point, there." She tugged Katara's hair. "Well?"

Katara frowned. "Well what?"

"Was he a gentleman or not?"

Katara's jaw dropped. "I can't believe you're asking me this!" She turned away and folded her arms. "First of all, I wasn't drunk, I was _tipsy._ I tried fancy bending, then I got sick, and if I had known what he was giving me I would have said no."

"Probably why he didn't tell you," Ju Li said.

"And second, Zuko is a traitor, but he's not _stupid_," Katara said. "He'd never try anything like that! Sokka and Aang would kill him!"

"But not you?"

"Only if I didn't do it, first!"

"Don't forget your father," Akna said. "Is there anything I should tell him about? Any pinching or leering or-"

_"No!"_ Katara promptly submerged herself under the water. When she rose, she sputtered and said: "I can't believe you. I've seen the whole world, and all you ask me about are _boys?_"

"She's got us there," Ju Li said.

* * *

Clean and now even hungrier, Katara marched up to the kitchen. Best to face this head-on. _It wasn't as bad as the cactus juice. Whatever you said or did, it could not have been as bad as seeing giant mushrooms in the desert. _Reluctantly, she approached the outer edges of the firelight with her hands clasped tightly behind her back.

"Hey, look who's up," Toph said. "Sleep it off, Sweetness?"

Sitting beside her, Zuko flicked Toph in the back of the head. Katara smiled and said: "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Are you sure?" Aang popped up from his position on the floor. "I wanted to bring you dinner, but they wouldn't let me."

"That's okay, Aang. I needed some rest." Her stomach growled. "Although food does sound nice…"

"The important thing is that you're feeling better," her dad said.

"And that you _never, ever_ do it again," Sokka said.

Iroh raised his teacup. "Let's not be hasty."

"Here you go," Aang said, handing her a bowl. "We saved some."

"Thanks," she said. "That was really nice."

"He's not the only one you should be thanking," her dad said, and nodded pointedly at Zuko.

"Oh! Um…" Katara made a very formal Fire Nation bow. "Thank you."

"Sure," Zuko said, and ducked his head. He looked at Toph. "Okay, let's do your name."

Toph put her finger to the stone. Carefully, she drew the beginnings of the _bei_ character. Katara sat down and watched as Toph stopped at the first two strokes of _fong._ "I can feel you watching me, Sweetness. Quit it."

"Sorry," Katara said. She focused on her food, but kept an eye on Toph.

"How come Toph's name is so big?" The Duke asked.

"'Cause I'm the Earth Rumble Champ, that's why," Toph said.

"No, no, _big_," The Duke said, stretching his hands from side to side. "It takes a long time to draw, but a short time to say." He sniffled.

Comprehension dawned on Zuko's features. He gave a very tiny smile. "That's her family's name," he said. "It comes first." He gestured with his left hand. "Come on. I'll show you."

Wiping his nose on his sleeve, The Duke came over and sat on Zuko's left side. Zuko wet his finger in his mouth and sketched the characters for "Duke" on the stone. "That's your name."

The Duke leaned over and looked at the shapes. "That's me?"

"That's you."

Katara was vaguely aware of her father and Iroh leaning forward slightly, as though this were very important, somehow. The Duke tilted his head. "It's still pretty small."

"That's because I don't know your family's name," Zuko said.

The Duke blinked. "Is Freedom Fighters a family name?"

"Not exactly," Sokka said. "But hey, Katara and I don't have family names. We're just 'Son of Hakoda,' or something."

"What about the town where you were born?" Zuko asked.

The Duke frowned and sneaked a glance at Iroh. "Um…Pipsqueak told me it's called something different, now."

"Different how?" Aang asked.

"Um…" The Duke looked from Aang to Iroh to Zuko. He leaned over and whispered something in Zuko's ear. Surprise colored Zuko's face. He looked over at his uncle and Katara saw something inscrutable in that glance that looked an awful lot like him asking to be taken away in chains.

"Guang-zho," Zuko said in a rough voice. "Your village was called Guang-zho."

"Hey, how did you know?" The Duke asked.

"It doesn't matter," Zuko said. "But now you're The Duke of Guang-zho. And this is how you write your name." He sketched the characters on the stone.

"Guang-zho…" Haru frowned. "Isn't that-"

"Iroh's Landing," the general said in a very low voice. He sighed heavily. Beside him, Katara's father blinked once, then followed the general's silent gaze to the two boys crouched on the floor. Now The Duke drew on Toph's back, and Toph drew on the floor, with Zuko smiling at them. General Iroh clapped his hands together dryly. "I have an idea, my nephew."

"Oh, boy," Toph said.

"What is it?" Zuko asked.

"You should teach your young pupils the story of The Puppetmaster's Daughter."

"How does that go?" Suki asked.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now you've done it…"

"I want to hear it," Aang said. "It's Fire Nation folklore! You never know when it might come in handy!"

The sound of Sokka's palm hitting his face resounded across the room. Suki pinched him and he ducked away. Akna cozied up to Hakoda and Katara turned herself away. "Is it a romantic story?" Akna asked.

"Those are the only ones I know," Iroh said. He took a deep breath, and began.

"Once upon a time, there was a skilled puppetmaster. He was such a genius that he created puppets that could think on their own, although they could not move. Day after day, the puppets sat and waited to be used, speaking without opening their mouths.

"Now, the puppetmaster was a very cruel man. He ruled his house like the puppet stage, and everyone danced to his tune. He was especially cruel to his daughter with the long, lovely hair, because unlike everyone else in the family, she could not bend fire.

"One puppet, Ningyo, who played the swordsman, saw this cruelty and resented it. Day after day, he sat and watched in silence as his master berated his lovely-haired daughter. _'You are no use to me,'_ the puppetmaster would say. _'My plays have no roles for a person who cannot bend. All you are good for is stuffing my puppets with the clippings of your long hair. '_ Day after day, Ningyo waited for the puppetmaster's daughter to come along and dust him off. Of all the puppetmaster's children, she was the most gentle and considerate, and this made him love her very much."

"See, Suki? Guys like girls who are gentle."

"I guess you're not a guy, then."

"One night when the whole family left the puppetmaster's daughter behind to perform a play, the girl fell asleep near the fire while brushing her long, lovely hair. But she did not know that her brothers had closed the flue, trapping the smoke inside the house. Slowly, the room filled with smoke, and the air grew as thick and black as the hair the girl was brushing. Unable to move, Ningyo cursed his wooden limbs. With all his heart he wished for life, if only so that he might give it up to save the puppetmaster's daughter. The universe heard Ningyo's wish, and granted it.

"Suddenly, Ningyo sprang into action. Now flesh and blood, he leapt forward to open the flue, allowing the smoke to clear. And just as he was about to wake the puppetmaster's daughter, the other puppets began to laugh. They said:

"'_Now Ningyo is a man and not a puppet, but he is useless. His strings are cut and he has no home. What could Ningyo possibly offer the gentle girl with the long, lovely hair?_'"

"Hearing this, Ningyo despaired. Ashamed, he ran away. But before long, he discovered he had to provide for himself. And because he had played a swordsman many times on stage, he found work for himself as a bodyguard. For three years, Ningyo had many adventures. He grew into his new body, which he discovered could feel pain and hunger and all the things that make human life difficult. But he also built a reputation as a great swordsman. He made money and saved it, all so he could return to his village and rescue the puppetmaster's daughter."

"And did he?" Suki asked.

"Yes, he did," Iroh said. "But when he returned, the puppetmaster's daughter was not there. He searched high and low, and returned to the puppetmaster's house to ask after her. _'I have no daughter,'_ the puppetmaster said. Enraged, Ningyo drew his swords across the cruel puppetmaster's neck and said: _'Tell me where she is.'_"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Haru said.

"The puppetmaster relented and said: _'She is at the edge of the village, far from prying eyes.'_ Curious, Ningyo journeyed to the edge of the village, and there he found a woman with a rag tied around her head. _'I'm sorry,'_ he said, _'but I am looking for the puppetmaster's daughter. She has long, lovely hair. Have you seen her?'_ The woman burst into tears, and ran away. As she turned away, Ningyo reached out to stop her. The rag came away in his hands, and he saw that the woman was bald -- all the hair had been plucked from her head!

"_'I am the puppetmaster's daughter,' _the woman said. _'But my long, lovely hair is gone. My family plucked it out to stuff our puppets, and now it will not grow back. I cannot bend and I am ugly now, and no one has any use for me.'_

"Hearing this, Ningyo put down his swords and knelt at her feet. Then he said: _'You do not remember me, but I am Ningyo, the puppet. For three years I have lived as a man, without any strings and without a master. But now I have returned, because when I was only wood and stuffing you cared for me. But perhaps you will not have me, because I am only a bodyguard and have little to offer."_

"But the puppetmaster's daughter shook her head and said: _'I have heard of the swordsman Ningyo! You are a hero!'_

"Ningyo rose and took his bride's hand and said: _'I am not a hero. I am only what you gave me the courage to become.'_"

Iroh paused, as though waiting for applause. Suki began to clap enthusiastically. Katara did the same. Soon the whole crowd was applauding.

"Wait," Sokka said as the applause died. "So that's it? What about her dad? Aren't they, you know, gonna get revenge?"

"Do they have lots of kids?" Suki asked.

"The story has many endings," Iroh said. "You have to decide on which one you like best."

"So, revenge," Sokka said.

"That was also my nephew's favorite ending, when he was a boy," Iroh said. "But now…" Iroh trailed off, and smiled. "Now he appears to be asleep."

The group turned. Zuko sat against a pillar with Toph under his right arm and The Duke under his left. The Duke had curled up with his head inside his helmet, and Toph with her head across Zuko's lap. Zuko's mess of hair fluttered up and down with the tide of his deep, even breath.

"We did work pretty hard today," Aang said.

"When?" Katara asked. For some reason, it had not occurred to her that Zuko would ever get tired.

"When you were asleep," he said. "We were bending all day." He frowned. "I still can't do the lightning."

"You'll get it," Katara said. "Zuko said it took him a long time, right?"

"I guess…"

Katara stood. "We'll start fresh tomorrow. You already have the form down. That's a good place to begin."

"I wish I could bend storms with you," Aang said, as he floated up from the stones.

"You can bend clouds with me, and that's almost the same," Katara said.

"No," Aang said. "It's not."

* * *

And it wasn't. The next day, Aang attempted to create the lightning and it blew up in his face again and again. Iroh encouraged him to take breaks and mingle his efforts with other kinds of firebending, but he refused. After the tenth try Katara saw him clutch the span of his chest where Azula had hit him and insisted that he take a rest. "I can do it!" Aang protested. "I can feel the energies right in front of me! They just won't do what I want!"

"Avatar Aang," Iroh said, "you must be calm-"

"I'm calm!" Aang said. "I'm fine! I can do this!"

"Then why aren't you?" Xiao Zhi asked.

Katara turned to her. "Shut up," she said, pointing. "This whole 'I'm so tough' routine isn't helping Aang and it isn't helping anyone else, either. Zuko and I are Aang's teachers, not you. You're just a…a substitute!"

To her surprise, Xiao Zhi's craggy face crinkled even further into something like affection. The old woman's sparse eyebrows lifted and she stared up into the hazy summer sky. Thunderheads approached from the west. She smiled at Katara. "Were you this much trouble for my brother?"

_"Huh?"_

"What brother?" Aang asked.

Xiao Zhi tapped ash from her pipe. "Don't tell me you missed the family resemblance," she said. She made a long face and narrowed her eyes. _"I lost the love of my life because I was a narrow-minded fool. Oh, woe is me."_

"MASTER PAKKU!"

"The one and only," Xiao Zhi said.

"But you're a firebender," Aang said. "And you live way over here!"

"How very astute of you to notice," Xiao Zhi said. She re-lit her pipe. "Our mother left the Northern Water Tribe shortly after my half-brother was born. I was born here -- my father was a Sun Warrior."

"Did your mother leave because of the way they treated female waterbenders?" Katara asked.

Xiao Zhi's expression darkened faintly. "My mother is the reason they were treated that way." Her pipe flared orange as she took a deep drag. She exhaled fragrant blue smoke. "My mother began as a healer, like you. She learned all the passages in the human body. And she soon discovered that she could bend the blood inside it, for both healing _and_ combat. When she revealed this to her husband, he called it an abomination. He took their son from her, and demanded she be cast out."

"Your mother was banished?" Zuko asked. He sounded oddly hopeful.

"Yes," Xiao Zhi said, smiling almost fondly. "But Water Tribe women have a way of…adapting." She gestured with the pipe. "She looked for a new home. When she heard the legend of the Sun Warriors, she decided to find them. She did, but they refused to let her stay. Luckily, she met my father. They were the first stormbenders."

"She got the idea from the mating pair inside the mountain," Iroh said. "Pakak was the first waterbender to be accepted by the dragons."

Aang's eyes went huge. "Your mom met the _dragons?_"

"She was a hero," Katara said, finding herself clasping her hands together.

Xiao Zhi arched an eyebrow. "She was also a bloodbender." She nodded toward Aang. "Speaking of which, it seems as though your friend could use a healing session."

"That I would like to see," Hakoda said from the shadows. He leaned on Akna's shoulder. He nodded at Katara. "If that's all right?"

She smiled. "Sure!"

"Why don't you try on your dad, Katara?" Aang stretched and lay down on the stone. "You did say I needed a rest."

Katara suspected that Aang simply did not want to share a demonstration of the healing with everyone. When she reached inside the scar she saw Azula, saw the lightning. Aang had every right to want to keep it between them. She nodded at her dad. "Yeah, let's give it a try."

Akna and Hakoda sat down against a pillar. Grimacing, Hakoda pulled up his shirt. "Some of the ribs are still mending," Akna said. She unwrapped Hakoda's torso from its coating of bandages. Beneath them, Katara saw the yellow remains of nasty bruising. She winced.

Hakoda offered a tight smile. "It looks worse than it feels. Really." He squeezed Akna's hand . "Akna has done a lot to help."

Katara smiled. "Well, it's my turn, now. So let's see if you're more cooperative than a senbon sloth."

"No promises."

She laughed and summoned a ribbon of water. Narrowing her eyes, she rolled the water into a patch that coated the ribs. She focused on the feel of the ribs, using the water to feel gingerly for the broken places-

-and saw boots kicking her father there, saw the skin darkening to purple-black under the repeated impact, saw him coughing blood on a metal grate with coals below, heard the sizzle of blood as the drops fell.

Katara crab-walked backward. Her hands shook and her vision blurred. Her water had splashed to the stones below. "Dad," she said. "Dad, I saw them-"

"You saw something?" Akna asked.

"They were kicking him…" Katara looked again at her father's ribs. She scrubbed at her eyes. "Dad, I'm so glad you're okay…"

Zuko spoke behind her. "You saw what made the wound?"

"Yeah," Aang said. "She can do that, when she's healing someone. It's pretty special."

"Special," Zuko said. "Right."

"And she can even see inside someone's mind with waterbending!"

Xiao Zhi put her pipe down. _"What?"_

Aang sat up. "Yeah, that's how we learned about the Dai Li's hidden base under Lake Laogai!"

Katara felt the double gaze of Iroh and Xiao Zhi on her. "Is this true?" Iroh asked.

"I can only do it if the person is relaxed," Katara said. She took a deep breath. "And even then it's only flashes. And I only did it that one time."

"That does not lessen the accomplishment," Iroh said. "You are a talented waterbender, and capable of great empathy. Those two strengths have given you a new technique." His bushy eyebrows lifted. "It is one you should refine."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I just started stormbending! I'm not going to become a mind-reader, too!"

Aang groaned. "Now you know how I feel."

"About stormbending," Hakoda said, "I'd like to see you do it. Akna says it's very impressive."

Katara smiled. "I think that can be arranged." She stood and turned around. "Right, Zuko?"

"What? Oh. Sure." He stood up and adjusted his tunic. "Same as before?"

She threw her hands up. "You want something new? Already?"

"I thought you wanted something _bigger_," Zuko said. "You said so yesterday."

"Bigger?" Hakoda asked.

"Harder," Zuko said. "More difficult." He rolled his eyes. "Nothing is ever good enough."

Katara pointed at him. "You're the one who's always showing off!"

"I do _not!_"

"You do so! You shot a whole big fireball at Aang under Ba Sing Se! That was a huge explosion for use on just one person!"

Zuko waved his arms. "Oh, and those big sleeves were _so_ efficient -- you could barely touch me!"

"You used them, too!"

"Only so I wouldn't burn you!" His mouth clamped shut. He stepped back. He turned away so that she saw the left side of his face and the dark and glossy scar, the mangled ear. He cleared his throat. "And the Yu Yan form isn't that hard. Right, Aang?"

"Uh, right," Aang said. "He showed me yesterday."

Zuko shifted on his feet. "You could probably make it with water, if you wanted."

Iroh coughed. "Or a storm…"

Zuko leaned around her to look at his uncle. "Could you _be_ more obvious?"

"Could y-"

Katara heard the sound of a palm slapping across lips. Akna had covered the general's mouth. "Please give it a try," she said, smiling.

"I'd like to see it," Hakoda said. "It sounds pretty special."

"…All right." Katara faced Zuko. "I'll need more water. Just give me a minute." Leaning over the railing, she pulled water directly from the fountain a few tiers below. It trailed up slowly before coiling around her. She turned to Akna. "Do you think this is enough?"

The other waterbender shrugged. "Don't ask me; you're doing a form I've never seen before!"

"It's fine," Zuko said. "We don't want it too big or we'll lose control of it." He turned to Aang. "Help me show her the form."

Aang brightened. "Okay!" He floated up to his feet. He and Zuko stood beside one another, feet stretched apart, hands pulled back as though drawing a bow. Then they each pulled back, drew their hands together, crouching, and twisted upward. A bolt of fire erupted from their hands, a ball of heat ringed by its own crown of flame like a blazing arrow inside a target. The fire dissolved against the opposite end of the crevasse. Katara heard birds shriek angrily in reply.

Hakoda clapped very slowly. "Outstanding work."

"Thanks," Aang said. He tilted his head at Katara. "I don't know why you would do it with stormbending, though. It's just an explosion of force, and you have force enough on your own."

"Thanks, Aang," Katara said. "But if you have to work hard at something new, then I should do the same. Don't you think?"

Aang's eyes found the floor. "I guess…"

Katara brought her water up. She mimed the posture the others had shown her, bringing her fists up close to her face, bending down, twisting up. The water promptly fell away from her. Red-faced, she summoned it again, repeated the motions. The same thing happened -- she wound up with a loose rope of water that didn't look much different from a normal water whip. "Why won't it explode?"

"Well, it _is_ water," Iroh said.

"But it's not even splitting right! I don't have both shapes!" Katara gritted her teeth. She raised the water again. She twisted it about one wrist and tried to split the ring away from it with her other hand. All she got was a messy, half-formed clump of water-noodles.

"No, not like that," Zuko said. "Your hands do different things!"

"What are you even _saying?_"

Zuko rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands and pushed air past his teeth. "Your hands. They each do something _different._ Like _this._" Tiredly, he took a position a little behind her, and spun a small circle of fire above their heads with one hand and a bolt of flame with the other. "It just goes in-"

"This is a waste of time!" They turned. Aang's eyes had taken on their own stormy cast. "You guys already got it right yesterday! You don't need to keep trying!"

Iroh held up a finger. "Practice makes perfect, Avat-"

"It's _Aang._ My name is _Aang._ Not _Avatar_ Aang, not anything else. It's Aang."

"Aang…"

_"What?"_

"Nothing," Iroh said. "Just…testing it out." He gave a nervous smile.

"I'm sorry, Aang," Katara said. She stepped closer to him. "We're here to teach you. You're what's most important."

"I'm sick of being important!" Aang grabbed his glider. "I'm not that good at it, anyway!" He ran for the railing, leapt, and sailed over the side. His glider snapped open and Katara saw him coast high into they sky. She stepped forward, but Zuko held an arm up.

"No," he said.

"We can't just let him go!"

"He's already gone," Zuko said. He rubbed his neck and squinted at the wheeling shape in the sky. "Maybe I pushed him too hard…"

Katara's eyes narrowed. "Did you?"

Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know! I didn't think so! He was fine, yesterday!"

"Oh, so you're saying it's me?"

"Of course not! I'm just saying he needs to be by himself for a while!"

"And that will accomplish his training how, exactly?"

Smug laughter sounded above them. Katara's ears started to burn. In unison, they looked to see Toph pointing and cackling from an overhang. "That, right there," she said, "is some great irony."

* * *

All through lunch, Zuko paced. Only the sound of rain obscured the scratch of his footsteps on the stone. "All right, now he's been gone too long." He gestured with his bowl. "This is all my fault..."

"You did nothing wrong, my nephew."

"I pushed him too hard! He wasn't ready!"

Katara sighed. "Zuko. He does this. He leaves." She dug into her noodles. "And if you had been with us for longer, you would know that."

"Oh, and when would I have joined you?"

"You know exactly when," she said.

Silence. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Zuko finally sat down. He leaned against a pillar and stared out at the approaching storm. The sky had darkened to a deep gray, now. "Yeah," Sokka said, sucking back some noodles, "but think of all the stuff we would have missed out on with Sparky there. Like Combustion Man!"

"I told you, it's not-"

"And that village where you played the Painted Lady!" Sokka gestured with his chopsticks. "_Sparky_ would have stuck to the schedule. _He _wouldn't have let you feed those berries to Appa."

"The _Painted Lady?_" Hakoda asked.

"Oh, that's lovely," Iroh said.

Zuko turned. "Wait, you were telling the truth?"

"Katara always tells the truth, unless she's-HAWKY!" Sokka stood up. He raised an arm. The messenger hawk promptly landed on it and Sokka yelped. "It's on my arm, it's on my arm, the claws, get it off!" He waved his arm futilely. Hawky clung on. Momo promptly leapt for Sokka's head. Bird and lemur chased one another until Sokka could duck out of the fray. Shrieking, the hawk coasted to General Iroh, who held out a morsel from his lunch.

"Two scrolls," he said. "One for Miss Toph!"

"Really?" Toph asked in a small voice. "Katara, can you, um…?"

Katara rose and collected the scroll. She examined the seal. "It's from your mom! She wrote back!"

Iroh unsealed the other scroll, unfurled it briefly, then quickly rolled it back up. "Young master Teo, if I could have a moment…?"

"Uh, sure thing," Teo said, and the two of them exited the kitchen.

"How did Teo get mail from Toph's mom?" Sokka asked.

"General Iroh has an old Pai Sho chum in the Bei Fong compound," Xiao Zhi said.

"Is there anyone that guy _doesn't_ know?"

"What's that flashing?" Haru asked. He pointed up at the sky. There inside the dark clouds were odd orange flares of light. No thunder followed them. Katara stood. Zuko was already running out into the rain, staring up at the sky. She followed. The clouds burned orange once again. Rain slowly began to soak their clothes.

"You can't do it that way," Zuko was saying. "Come down, come on…"

Katara saw a flash of real lightning skitter down from the clouds. Thunder boomed above their heads. "Was that…?" They waited. Nothing. The sound of rain covered the silence between them. Then the clouds opened and Aang's shape streaked down toward them, the glider snapping shut as he arrived on a trail of wind and rain. His clothes hung off him in sodden folds. His head and arms hung limp, each arrow pointing downward. Raindrops slid down his nose and chin.

"Why can't I do it?" he asked in a tiny voice. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," Zuko said. "You're a great bender. You do amazing things all the time."

Aang sighed. "Then why can't I do this?"

"You're just not ready, yet," Katara said. "Remember how you had to work up to earthbending? This is just like that."

Real fear wrote itself large on Aang's wet face. "Does that mean I have to wait until one of you is in trouble before I can learn?"

Katara winced. "No…I don't know." She rested a hand on his bare shoulder. "But you won't feel any better just standing in the rain. So let's get inside and dry you off."

"I'll show you how to warm up," Zuko said. He blinked. "I mean, if you want. We don't have to." He chewed his lip. "Are you hungry?"

Aang smiled thinly. "Yeah, a little."

"You're growing," Zuko said with a smile. He sighed and started walking toward the kitchen. "Let's eat."

Aang looked between them. "_Am_ I growing?"

"Of course," Katara said. She steered him toward the kitchen. "I'm sure you're taller now than you were when we found you."

Aang stretched his arms wearily. "I don't _feel_ any taller."

They ducked under the eave. Zuko frowned. "You _found _him?"

"I woke him up with waterbending!"

Sokka held up a hand. "I beg to differ. Katara got angry at _me_ for _nothing_, and her _fury_ broke a _glacier,_ and that's how _we_ discovered Aang."

Suki swallowed some tea. "You both discovered the Avatar together?"

"Yup," Sokka said. "He hatched out of that iceberg like a baby owl-kitten, opened his eyes, and there we were!"

"Cute," Haru said.

"It wasn't _cute!_" Aang balled his fists. His clothes steamed dry. "There was a huge explosion of power!"

"I remember," Zuko said gently. "There was a pillar of light miles high."

"Like a big signal flare?" The Duke asked.

"A huge one," Sokka said. "Like…_epic._"

Toph paused her investigation of her toes. "Wait, so Zuko was there, too?"

"That's right," Zuko said. He looked down at Aang and pointed to the left, to a balcony on a distant tier. "Years ago I stood right there and swore that I would find you. And when I saw that light, I knew I had."

Aang blinked. He propped his glider against a pillar. When he spoke, his voice was low and heavy. "You've been looking for me for a long time, haven't you?"

Zuko handed Aang his lunch. "Longer than you know."

Katara watched as the two boys stared out at the rain. Lightning brightened the sky and Aang sighed, straightened up. Zuko pretended to brush something from Aang's shoulder, and his hand -- it looked so big, so grown-up -- lingered there for just a second before falling. Toph appeared at Katara's elbow. "Can we read my letter, now?"

Katara smiled. "Good idea. Let's go somewhere private."

On the way out, Akna passed them by. "Katara, can you find me when you and Toph are finished?" she asked. "Xiao Zhi thought it might be a good idea if you and I practiced your healing a little bit this afternoon. We don't want you getting a nasty headache the next time you have to do some combination bending."

"Sure," Katara said. "I'd rather avoid that, too."

"Good," Akna said. "Have fun, girls!"

Toph waited until Akna had rounded a corner. "She's not so bad," she said.

They bypassed the dormitories for Appa's stable. "She's still not my mom," Katara said as they pushed through the massive door.

"Maybe you shouldn't think of her as your new mom," Toph said. She dug a toe between two stones. "Maybe you should think of her as your friend. Or…or like your big sister."

A little of the tension -- her father's injuries, the stormbending, Aang's flight from home -- unknotted inside Katara's chest. "That's a really good way of thinking about it, Toph." She sat down beside Appa and began rubbing the great beast's belly. "Now let's see what your mom has to say."

* * *

"I can't believe her! She's crazy!"

Aang pushed through the door to the stable. "Who's crazy?"

"My mom!" Toph jabbed a finger in the air a few inches away from the parchment. "She says she has a crush on _The Boulder!_"

Aang giggled. "Really?"

"Yes! And it's disgusting! Just because she's all into Earth Rumbles now -- which have _totally_ gone downhill if they're letting _her_ into the crowd -- she thinks she's all cool!"

"Has she even met The Boulder?" Aang asked.

"She says she saw him at the marketplace while they were at the summer house," Toph said. "She's convinced it was him. She's completely nuts."

"Maybe she did see him," Aang said. "Maybe the Stormbenders broke him out, too."

Toph's face set. She pounded her fist into her palm. "If that's true, Pops and I are in for a long chat." She hopped up. "He totally should have told me!" She marched for the door.

Aang yawned. He sat beside Katara against Appa's flank. With a gentle flick of his hand, he bent two apples through the air and into Appa's mouth. The bison groaned his appreciation. "I know, buddy," Aang said. "But it's raining pretty hard out there, and I need a nap."

Katara stood. "Well, Akna told me I have to work on my bloodbending, so I should get going and let you rest."

"Do you have to?"

She sighed. "It's not like I want to. I don't want to bloodbend at all if I can help it. But in case I have to, I don't want to get sick like last time. My head _really_ hurt."

Aang smiled ruefully. "You're really good at doing the tough things, Katara." He threaded his fingers through Appa's fur. "The things you don't want to do, I mean."

"I never really thought of it," Katara said. She thought of home and being hungry and realizing for the first time that her mother was never coming back because no one had fed them, no one had gathered more fuel, no one had swept out the tent, no one. Until she stood up and did it herself. "Sometimes things just have to get done."

"Right," Aang said. "Katara?"

"Yes?"

He blushed and looked away. "Can you…" He reddened even further. "Can you give me a kiss?"

Her heart entered her stomach. "Um, sure," she said, more quietly than she meant to. She bent down, pressed Aang's shoulder, and kissed his left temple. The skin there was still baby-soft and she saw a little blue vein thrumming beneath it. And this time, more than any other, she felt the currents of his life flowing there under his skin, utterly fragile yet incredibly strong. And when she pulled away something wrenched inside her heart, a hot fierce something that said: _This is the life you saved, this life belongs to you, this life is yours to protect._

Aang sighed. He turned even more deeply into Appa's fur. "Thanks."

"I'll see you later, Aang."

"Sure."

She left the room, and did not look back.

* * *

Katara found Akna in an abandoned space under the old tea garden. The other woman moved slowly through her waterbending forms. "Hello, Katara," she said. "Won't you join me?"

Katara slipped off her shoes and took a stance beside Akna. "Sure."

"It's good to have you with me," Akna said. "One thing about being a Stormbender -- you sort of have to spend all your time with the same people."

"Tell me about it," Katara said. She pulled backward, brought her arms up, and pivoted her hands before pushing forward on one leg. "Appa's saddle can feel pretty small, sometimes, even if you can see the whole world from up there."

"Sometimes you want to do your own thing," Akna said. "You've devoted your whole life to the Avatar. That can't always be easy."

"Aang's worth it," Katara said. "If he's going to save the world, he needs help." She bent down and traced her fingers along the floor until her hand pointed high above her head. "We're like a family. We can't just run away when it gets tough."

"I'm not saying you would ever abandon him," Akna said. "But you're growing up. And when the war is over, you'll have to think about what you want to do with the skills you have learned."

Katara frowned. It was hard to imagine not being afraid of what the Fire Nation might do next. What would she do when Aang no longer had to prepare for the fight of their lives? She was a waterbending master -- how would she use her talent? "I don't know," she said. "We're always moving… Everything feels temporary. I haven't really made a plan."

"And you don't have to, not right away," Akna said. "You are an independent spirit. You have to make your own choice."

Katara paused. "Did Dad tell you to ask me these questions?"

Akna smirked. "No. But I can tell he wants to ask them. And when he does, you'd better be ready." She sighed. "Now I want to teach you something that's just for you."

"Just for me?"

"Yes. Have a seat." They did. Katara saw Akna pull her legs up into a lotus position and tried to do the same. Akna sat up very straight. "General Iroh tells me that his nephew once hired a bounty hunter with a shirshiu to follow your scent trail."

Katara willed her face not to give away her bewilderment. "Um…yeah…"

"Sometimes when we're on a combat mission, we face the same problem," Akna said. "We don't want to leave a scent trail behind, in case an enemy can track us back to the Sun Warriors. Blood is an especially strong scent. The technique I am about to teach you will allow you to make sure that no person or animal can ever track you by that scent."

"You mean like sealing up a wound?" Katara asked. "Because I know how-"

"No," Akna said. "I mean…something different. Something that Aang will never have to deal with."

Katara frowned. "Huh?" She stared into Akna's face. Akna merely stared back. Her eyes gave the tiniest flick downward, and Katara flushed painfully red. "Oh. You mean-"

"Your cycle," Akna said. "Now, you may not know-"

"I know! I know everything! The women back home get pretty raunchy on those winter nights and I-"

"Katara." Akna reached over and took one of Katara's hands in her own. "I'm a healer. I've seen it all. And Sokka tells me you delivered a child all on your own, too, after your training at the Healing Hut up north. But this technique is one thing they won't teach you up there."

Katara grimaced. "What technique?"

"How to hold the cycle back," Akna said. "Doesn't that sound nice?"

"It sounds weird," Katara said. "Nice, but weird."

Akna smiled. "Pakak first discovered this technique at the North Pole. But it requires constant effort, so she didn't practice it until she reached the Fire Nation."

Katara sat back. "Why?"

"Well, a person who travels by bison wouldn't know, but there are these creatures called leopard-sharks, and they have very sensitive noses."

"Oh, gross…"

"I know." Akna shuddered. "But practicing this technique will slowly make you more aware of all the pathways inside the body, and you'll learn how to bloodbend under all phases of the moon without hurting yourself. It will make you an even better healer, and it might even keep you safe." Her lips quirked. "Or, at least, keep you free for a hot date."

Katara's jaw dropped. Twisting her hand through the air, she gave Akna a little water-slap across the arm. "Akna!"

"What? You'll be a big hero when this war is over, and you'll have your hands full of suitors." She brightened. "Maybe even literally!"

Katara felt herself turn fire-lily red. "You're a terrible influence! I'm telling Dad!"

"Tell your father _after_ I give you the lesson," Akna said, producing some scrolls from her sash. Unrolling them, she revealed complete maps of the human body, from organs to chakras to chi paths. "Now. First things first. Anatomy." She pointed at the heart. "Someday, you'll be stopping these literally _and_ figuratively."


	5. Chapter 5

Stormbenders

**Stormbenders**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, Mike, Bryan, and Paramount. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: This one was rather tough to write. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter, everybody!**

**ETA: FFN ate my section breaks, so I had to bring this down then re-load it. I apologize for the confusion!**

**Thanks: To OrePookPook and RiaKitsuneYoukai for fresh art, and especially to OrePookPook for his counsel regarding the length of this chapter.**

* * *

Men's private self-worlds are rather like our geographical world's seasons, storm, and sun, deserts, oases, mountains and abysses, the endless-seeming plateaus, darkness and light, and always the sowing and the reaping. _--Faith Baldwin_

* * *

For the next week, they trained non-stop.

"I'm sore in places I didn't know I had," Katara said at lunch on the seventh day. She stared up at a mosaic of flying bison. It would be nice to fly, she thought. How come Teo and Sokka hadn't made any more gliders? Going out for a nice coast through the air sounded like fun. It sounded like the exact opposite of what everyone wanted her to do: _Practice stormbending! Practice bloodbending! Memorize every vein in the human body! Figure out how to sneak inside somebody's head with waterbending!_

For the hundredth time, Katara wished she could reach back in time and cover Aang's mouth when he bragged about how she'd helped bend the memories free of Jet's clouded mind. Now Xiao Zhi and Iroh and everyone were curious about it, and they kept on asking her to repeat it. Every night at dinner Xiao Zhi offered up more members of her group to be "the bender's assistant," and Katara had to go in and see what she could see. If she hadn't been so tired, it would have been funny: the stormbending males she worked on stored a lot of memories of Akna bending down to tie her shoe. (This alone made her want to change her bending water afterward; it always felt a little dirty after reaching inside someone's head, and the men were too embarrassed afterward to even look at her, and they froze if Hakoda so much as glanced their way.)

But she was tired. The routine had changed yet again. Xiao Zhi and Iroh awakened them at dawn, Akna guided them through a meditation sequence, Zuko and Aang practiced firebending (with impromptu matches between Zuko and Katara or Katara and Aang or all three of them, depending on Xiao Zhi's mood), Aang tried to generate lightning (and failed), Zuko and Katara bent a storm or two while Aang watched, then it was time for physical exercise (the only time Sokka and Haru even saw Aang, anymore) then lunch (and probably another stupid demonstration of her "brainbender" skills, as Sokka called them), then more training (this time with Toph, who refused to be "left out of all the fun"), then dinner (and more tricks!) and finally healing lessons with Akna -- which worked best at night when the moon glowed above.

Somewhere in there she had utterly lost control of her kitchen, someone else did her laundry (a complete stranger washed her underwear!) and it _kept on raining._ Zuko called it the monsoon season, but she had her own colorful way of describing it when she had to wring her hair out twelve times an hour. She didn't dry her clothes so much as bend the water free of them. Iroh taught Aang how to heat the air between his hands and he could warm her up a little, but he had singed her dress and it wasn't at all worth it in this weather.

And her whole body hurt. Bloodbending was _hard._ When her brain didn't feel too full of information -- hers and other people's -- it gave her a constant, thudding headache that told her she was a moron for even trying to bend her own blood without the benefit of a full moon. Iroh had a tea for it. She liked kallu wine better.

"Can't you just heal yourself?" Toph asked.

"The headache just keeps coming back," Katara said. "Akna says after the first month I'll feel better, but for now it just always hurts."

"The first _month?_" Aang sat up. "Why does it take a whole month?"

"Something to do with the cycle of the moon," Katara lied. "Don't worry about it."

"You could get rid of the soreness," Zuko said from his position against a pillar. "Couldn't you?"

"Yeah…" Katara summoned a stream of the water from the fountain and tiredly worked it through the air. As she was about to clothe herself in it, however, Zuko traced his hands along the water. Steam emanated from it now, and when she pulled it up along her limbs it felt like a warm blanket. As she peeled it off, the warmth took the ache away with it.

"Good thinking, Sparky," Sokka said. "That's some pretty steamy bending--ow!" Sokka grabbed his ribs where Suki's elbow had connected with them. "What? He made the water steam!"

"Can you do me, now?" Aang asked. He flopped over on his stomach.

"Sure we can," Katara said, smiling. She sat up on her knees and twisted more water free of the fountain. "Come on, Zuko."

Zuko strode over and knelt on Aang's other side. As Katara spun the water above Aang's body, he carefully ran his fingers over it until the whole ball steamed. Then he watched her smooth it over their student. Aang sighed gratefully. "That's really nice…"

Rain pattered down outside. Katara changed the water's pressure gently, using it like a rolling pin across Aang's shoulders. She pushed it and pulled it and Aang's eyes drifted closed. The water's healing glow played on his and Zuko's features -- the one sleepy, the other fascinated. Steam rose up between them. She traced a glowing hand over Aang's back, down the long blue line of his tattoo until she reached the broken place, the mottled pink scar where Azula had made her mark. Zuko's fingers slipped across the water there, hovering just above the scar. He stared at it before shutting his eyes and balling a tight fist on the stone.

"It's okay," Aang said sleepily. "It doesn't hurt much, any more."

Zuko took a deep, shuddering breath. "She's never going to hurt you again. I promise."

In profile, Katara saw only the scar. As that puckered, mutilated flesh squeezed closed -- as though trying to hold in something too large for any of them to understand -- she wondered how she could have ever suspected Zuko of wanting to hurt Aang that way. It wasn't in him -- not the person who let Sokka poke him and took his punishment from Toph and faced down dragons with Aang.

"You next," she said quietly, and lifted the water away from Aang's clothes and body.

Zuko's eyes lifted. "Me?"

"Sure," Katara said, standing. "You should at least get to benefit from your own steam, right?"

Zuko's gaze flicked over to the group of adults watching them. They had a habit of doing that -- sneaking up on people. Only Toph could ever predict their movements with any accuracy. Iroh, Xiao Zhi, Akna, and Hakoda watched them from the shadows. Her father's face was unreadable -- Katara tried to remember a time when she understood his glances but couldn't. Maybe he just couldn't look at her the same, any longer. "Our time's up," Zuko said.

"There's time," Iroh said. He sounded indulgent, content, like the thoughtful old man she had met at the Spirit Oasis. "Go ahead."

Katara promptly wrapped the water around Zuko's neck like a scarf. He flailed. "Hey!"

"Don't be such a baby."

Toph waved dismissively at him. "Yeah, Sparky, it's just water."

Zuko settled down on his knees. "Just don't choke me."

"Please. I don't need water to choke you. I can squeeze your throat closed with bloodbending."

"Yeah, I'm sure that makes him feel lots better, sis," Sokka said.

Katara stuck her tongue out at her brother. Then she focused her concentration on Zuko's neck. Under his skin he felt like the family purse: all hard lumps, knots of tension. He stiffened as her water rolled over them. She let the water show her the landscape of his muscle: nerves and fibers tangled up in one another like old, frayed rope. The bloodflow was cut off in places. Delving deeper, letting the pulse of his blood resonate up to her through the water, she made a single careful adjustment-

-Zuko groaned through gritted teeth. His fingernails scratched stone. "You're hurting him, Katara," Aang said.

"I didn't mean to!"

Zuko snorted faintly. "Right."

"Sparky, if I wanted to hurt you, you'd be hurt."

"Again, not instilling so much confidence, here," Sokka said.

"Sure she is," Zuko said. "I'm confident she can massage Azula to death--_ow! _Stop pressing so hard!"

* * *

That night after dinner, Iroh convened what he called "a family meeting." He stood before the fire, backed by Hakoda and Xiao Zhi and Akna, and he gestured at Teo before speaking. "I have received some discouraging news from a friend about Teo's father," he said. "Like Hakoda and the others, he was imprisoned. But he was held separately from us, and we could not free him."

"That's awful," Aang said. "I'm really sorry, Teo."

"It's okay," Teo said. "I'm pretty sure he's all right. I think the Fire Nation has him working for them again. That means he has to be okay -- he couldn't work if he wasn't."

"We have received word that the Fire Nation is developing a weapon for use in the days following Sozin's Comet," Iroh said. "We intercepted a letter-"

"Who's _we?_" Sokka asked.

Iroh gave him a heavy look. "The less you know, the better."

"The White Lotus gambit," Zuko said, pointing. "You've been talking to those people from before-"

"White Lotus?" Sokka produced something from his pocket. "What, do you mean-"

"That's it!" Zuko shook his finger at the little tile. "If you knew the _trouble_ that thing caused me-"

"Nephew, it was only some pirates-"

"_Only some pirates?_ They tried to blow me up! And that was after they ripped us off! And all because you thought you lost some stupid tile!"

"Which you promptly hurled over a waterfall."

Katara pointed to the old man. "You got me _tied to a tree_ because you lost a _Pai Sho tile?_"

Iroh made a very innocent face. "My nephew did the tying, not me-"

"Sparky, you tied Katara to a tree?" Toph sent a jab of stone straight for Zuko's ribs. "What were you thinking?"

_"The point is,"_ Iroh said, clearing his throat, "that Teo's father is still in Fire Nation custody. We believe that he is working on a very dangerous and powerful weapon. In order to prepare for this war, we must know what it is."

They all looked at each other. Even Toph seemed a little mystified. Beside her, Zuko's face took on a deeply suspicious aspect. Aang at least seemed a bit more optimistic: "Okay," he said. "Knowing about a secret weapon would be helpful. Is there anything we can do? Like helping Teo's dad escape?"

"We don't know where he is," Teo said.

"My friends say that he keeps moving," Iroh said. "It is likely that the Dai Li have him hidden underground."

"No problem," Toph said, hitting her palm with her fist. "Gimme two minutes, and he's free as a bird."

"It's not that easy," Iroh said. "Even if we did free him, he has already begun work on the weapon. It may be in production as we speak. And we do not know how or where the Fire Nation plans to use it." He sighed. "We need someone to infiltrate the capitol, learn all they can about the weapon, and report back to us."

"Isn't that what your Order of the White Lotus is for?" Zuko asked. "They've helped us out before."

Iroh shook his head. "None of the members can get close enough to Ozai or Azula or the war chamber. My brother is very selective about who shares his confidence, and your sister is even more so. And it is likely that the plans are hidden somewhere secret." His eyes rose, and he looked very tired. "There is only one person qualified to enter the palace, find the plans, and give us the information we need."

"No," Toph said. "No _way._" She stood up. "You're crazy!"

"You are crazy," Aang said. "You can't go back there, Iroh, Ozai will-"

"He's not talking about himself," Zuko said. The others stared at him. His voice lowered. "He's talking about me."

"I wish it could be another way, my nephew," Iroh said. "But there is a slim chance my brother will allow you back into his house if you pretend that the Avatar has shunned you."

_"What?"_ Aang stood up. "I would never do that! Zuko is my teacher-"

"We all know that," Xiao Zhi said. "But Ozai doesn't."

"But I'm still learning firebending!"

"My uncle can teach you that," Zuko said. "He taught me. He's a better teacher than I am."

"That's Aang's decision," Katara heard herself say. She felt the combined gaze of over ten people swing in her direction. "It's true," she told that host of surprised faces. "Aang is the Avatar. We're all here to support him. If he wants Zuko to be his firebending teacher, then we have to follow him." She folded her arms and put her nose in the air. "Even if we don't like it."

"Good," Sokka said. "Because for a minute there it sounded like-"

"I want Zuko," Aang said. He held his hands up. "No offense, Iroh."

Iroh smiled. "None taken."

"Well, I'm glad that's settled," Sokka said. He stretched. "You'll just have to find someone else-"

"There is no one else," Xiao Zhi said. She fixed them with a gimlet stare over the slow burn of her pipe. "Your former enemy has survived more in his quest for the Avatar than any of you can imagine. He endured Ozai's wrath, stole the Avatar from under Zhao's nose, swam the North Pole canals, and successfully evaded the Earth Kingdom militia. He rescued your bison from the Dai Li after you had spent weeks wasting time. He disarmed and stole a war balloon to chase you _without your noticing_, and proceeded to _re-master_ his firebending after avoiding Sun Warrior traps _and_ facing the dragons. There is _no one else_."

Sokka blinked. "Well…when you put it that way…"

"How do you know all those things?" Zuko asked.

"You must forgive an old uncle his bragging," Iroh said.

"It's still crazy," Toph said. The stones at her feet cracked and splintered as she pivoted to point a few inches to the left of Iroh's head. Her hand shook and her voice trembled. "You can't ask him to do this. You can't ask him to go back there! _Ozai tried to kill him!_"

Silence. Wood on the fire popped loudly; Katara flinched. Zuko turned and reached for Toph's foot. He covered it with a hand. "I'm not going anywhere," he said in a quiet voice. "I swore that I would find the Avatar, and I have. I won't leave, now."

Toph shifted on her feet. Her hair hung to cover her eyes. "Well, good, because…" She tightened her little fists and spoke in a tiny voice. "Because I'm not done with my payback, yet…"

"I know you're not, Champ," Zuko said. He sounded almost happy. "I still have a lot to make up for."

"Hey," Toph said, going pink, "no one gets to invent nicknames but me…" She sat down and hugged her knees. She frowned over at Iroh. "How could you even suggest this, Pops? Sending Sparky back there alone with Stretch and Needles and Crazy is just…_crazy_."

"Oh, he wouldn't be alone," Iroh said. "Just as Ozai has been gathering weapons, we have been building our own arsenal."

"Do you mean like a new pair of swords?" Haru asked.

"Or a big dragon?" The Duke asked.

"No," Iroh said carefully, "that is not what I mean."

"Well, what do you mean?" Suki asked.

"He means that even Zuko has limits," Xiao Zhi said. "Anyone who wanted to find out about the weapon's location or design would need to find out the location of the plans. Ozai and Azula no longer trust Zuko. Nor does anyone in Ozai's cabinet. They will not give up the information willingly."

"So?" Sokka asked. "They could give it up _unwillingly._ Sparky's pretty persuasive."

"Even Zuko cannot be sure whether the information is true or not," Iroh said. "Moreover, Azula now has the Dai Li on her side. We need someone who can extract the information from someone no matter how the Dai Li may have interfered with their memories."

"That's impossible," Sokka said. "You'd need some kind of-" He froze. "No. No. No _way._ Not in a million years." He pushed up from the floor and stared at their father. "Him and the others I can understand, but _you?_ I mean, sure, you left us but at least-"

"Who do you think they will target next, Sokka?" Hakoda asked in a leaden voice. His face rose, and for a moment he looked terribly sad and tired. "The Fire Nation has Omashu and Ba Sing Se. They wiped out an entire race of airbenders. Who is left?"

A chill stole over Katara's skin. She resisted the urge to hug her arms. _You sound like Hama,_ she wanted to say, until she remembered that her father had no idea who Hama was and that she did not want to explain. "You can't be serious," Zuko said behind her. He stood up. "You're _insane!_ All of you! This is the worst plan I've ever heard of!"

"What's going on?" The Duke asked.

"What's going on is that these clowns want to send my baby sister and the Jerkbender over here on a _suicide mission_ to retrieve some stupid plans!"

_"What?"_ A blast of wind pushed Iroh's hair back. A vein puffed up on Aang's bald head. "No! Never! I'm not letting her go!"

"Doesn't Katara get a say?" Akna asked.

"NO!" Sokka and Aang drew closer to Katara. "She doesn't get a say," Sokka said. He turned to her. "You don't get a say. You're staying right here and that's final."

Katara stood. "Sokka, quit ordering me-"

"We're not going," Zuko said. He stood up. "We're not leaving Aang. Ever."

"Zuko," Iroh said, "sometimes in order to protect someone, we have to let them go. When your mother was banished-"

_"Leave her out of this!" _Zuko cut Iroh off with a blast of fire. It petered out into the air above their heads. He exhaled smoke. "This isn't the same. The best way for me to protect Aang is to stay right here."

Katara stepped forward. "Your mother was banished?"

Zuko looked at her from the corner of his scarred eye. "It's a long story. And it doesn't matter -- we're not leaving Aang." He paused. "Are we?"

"Of course not! How can you even ask me that?" She turned to Aang. He stared up at her with large eyes. "Don't worry, Aang. You're not going to lose us." She gave her father a quick glance. "We're certainly not just going to _abandon_ you."

"Nice to know you can agree on something," Toph said.

"Katara, I didn't abandon you," Hakoda said tiredly. "I left you behind for your own good-"

"I don't want to hear it," Sokka said. "You…you…" His breath came too fast and he gestured with his boomerang. "You don't get to tell us what's right any more. Not when you're asking Katara to head straight into Azula's den." He pointed behind himself at Suki. "Do you even know what they did to her in there? How can you possibly be okay with this idea?"

"I'm not okay with it!" Hakoda pounded his knees with his fists. "I hate it! I hate every part of it!"

"Then why-"

"Because it's _necessary_, son," Hakoda said. His eyes pleaded with Sokka. "Do you think I liked leaving you behind all those years ago? It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But I did it to protect you, because there was no one else who could do the job. Your sister is in a position to help the whole tribe -- the whole _world_." He looked at his hands. "I can't be selfish, no matter how much I want to be."

"It's not selfish," Aang said. "It's not selfish if you love her. You want what's best for her, don't you?"

"Aang, it's okay," Katara said. "I'm not going." She looked at Teo. "I'm really sorry, Teo. But we can't leave Aang."

"I know," Teo said. "I knew you wouldn't leave him."

"I'm sorry, too," Zuko said. "I know--wait. What did you just say?"

"How long have you known about this?" Katara asked.

Teo looked guiltily at the ground. "Since they got here," he said. "General Iroh told me what had happened to my dad, and he said they were working on a plan."

Katara felt something inside her frost over. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at Xiao Zhi. "Why did you really come here?"

"To help the Avatar win this war," Xiao Zhi said.

_"Liar!"_ Katara moved and the blood in Xiao Zhi's body answered her call and suddenly the older woman was on her knees, her limbs trembling as she struggled in Katara's grip. Katara spun water free of the fountain and slapped it across Xiao Zhi's head. "Show me everything," she said. And she plunged inside Xiao Zhi's mind heedless of the old woman's groan of protest and she saw the helpless flutter of images: Iroh's conspiratorial wink and smile, her own father deliberately looking away as Xiao Zhi spoke, letters and messenger hawks and even Katara and Zuko bending storm after storm after storm.

Her water withdrew and she flicked her wrist and Xiao Zhi stood tall, arms flung out, head lolling on body she no longer controlled. "You never wanted to help Aang," Katara said. "You were testing us. This whole thing was nothing but a…an _audition!_" She tightened her grip and Xiao Zhi choked slightly. "I should crush your heart inside your chest."

"Do it," Xiao Zhi spat. "Then you will be ready to face Ozai."

Katara made a noise of inarticulate fury. She swung her body to the right and Xiao Zhi flew through the air, crashed against a pillar, and crumpled to the ground. Katara panted. Xiao Zhi spat blood and laughed roughly. "Akna told me you were coming along nicely," she said. "You could probably destroy the Fire Lord and his daughter without even touching them."

"What?" Hakoda asked. "That was never part of the plan." He turned to Akna. "You were training my daughter to hurt people?"

"No, Hakoda, I-"

"She said I would learn to _break hearts_," Katara said. "I thought she was joking." To her horror, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I promised never to use my bending that way. Now I'm no better than…" She clamped her lips shut and closed her eyes. Tears leaked out.

"You should go," Sokka said softly. "Dad and Iroh can stay. They're family. But the rest of you should just leave."

Katara swayed on her feet. Pain hammered inside her skull. "Katara!" Aang was beside her, his hand on her elbow.

"It's nothing, I'll be fine…"

"Easy there, Sweetness," Toph said, joining Aang. She wrapped Katara's arm around her smaller shoulders. "Let's get you to bed."

"I'm okay, really…" Pain wiggled between her brows and down into her stomach.

"Aang," she heard Zuko say, "go down to the stable."

"Yeah, let's all go," Aang said, steering her. "It'll be like old times!"

"You can't be thinking of leaving, nephew," Iroh said, as they began to walk away.

"I don't know what to think, Uncle."

* * *

Hours later, Zuko refused to stop tossing and turning. Just when Aang and Toph had _finally_ started sleeping, and when Katara's headache _finally_ started to slip away to a corner of her head, Zuko insisted on flipping this way and that like a fish out of water. He rolled from one side to the other, then back again. From way across the stable, where he slept nearest the door, she could still hear him. It was a miracle Toph could still sleep -- he must have been sending the most annoying vibrations through the floor. She sat up.

"Zuko!" she said in a harsh whisper. "Go to sleep!"

"I'm _trying_," he hissed.

"Well, try harder! Some of us need rest!"

Nothing. She didn't even hear the flipping and flopping. Then something dropped to its feet behind her and she almost shrieked when a hand covered her mouth. "It's only me," he said.

She elbowed him hard and he staggered back to sit against a wooden beam. He rubbed his ribs. "Ow…"

"Don't sneak up on me! You're always sneaking up on me!"

"If by always you mean _twice_," he said. "Showing up here doesn't count."

"You always show up by surprise!"

"Maybe you should just learn to expect me!"

"Oh, right, like I was going to have dinner waiting for you the next time you tried to capture Aang."

As though he had heard them, Aang snuffled in his sleep and reached blindly for his staff. Once his fingers closed over it, he relaxed. Zuko sighed and without looking Katara knew that his gaze had settled over Aang like a blanket. "I'm not leaving him," he said.

"I know you're not." She folded her arms around her knees. "I'm not, either."

"So we're agreed," Zuko said.

"What is there to agree on? We promised Aang we would teach him."

"My uncle won't let this go," Zuko said. "He'll try to change our minds. He does that."

"Well your uncle doesn't know me," Katara said, sitting up straighter. "And if you think I'm going to just let you run off and hurt Aang like that, you're crazy."

"I thought you wanted me gone," Zuko said. His voice had gone even quieter. She had to strain to hear. "I thought you hated me."

Katara sighed. She turned around. She rested her head on her arms so that she saw him -- his shadow, the darker shape amidst the dark columns -- with only one eye. "I hate what you did."

"That's something we have in common."

Silence. The memory of the cave stretched between them like a delicate thread. Then she said: "I thought you said your mother was…"

"Ozai told me the truth, after that," Zuko said. "She… Ozai accused her of treason and he sent her away."

Katara bit her lip. "And that was before, um…"

"I was ten. Three years later I was banished."

Katara nodded. He was silent. Momo crept by and settled in his lap, and she heard the lemur's pleased purr as Zuko scratched his ears. "Why can't Aang bend lightning?" Katara asked. "Is it really that hard?"

"It's incredibly difficult." He stretched his legs out. "You have to be free of distraction." She heard him rustling a little, restless. "He really had a hard time with earthbending?"

"He couldn't do it," Katara said. "He tried and tried and just couldn't. Toph was merciless."

A ghost of a laugh. "There's a surprise."

Katara smiled. "I'm sure the dragons were worse."

"The dragons were amazing." Zuko pitched his voice toward her. "So was Aang."

"I know," Katara said. Her eyes seemed extra heavy. "He's Aang."

"You've done well with him."

Despite herself, she felt a warm little wiggle of pride at the notion that Aang's talent was somehow a reflection on her. It wasn't, she knew; he was the Avatar and he couldn't help being talented. But she still said: "Thanks." And soon after, she was asleep.

* * *

"You know what today's motto is?" Sokka asked, as he plowed through a very late, leisurely breakfast the next day. _"Back to normal."_

"I suppose that's why I'm the one doing all the work," Katara said.

"And complaining about it," Sokka said. He lay on the floor. "See? Back to normal already. Ow! Suki, stop pinching!"

"Nah, something's not quite right," Toph said.

"The tea's too good?" Teo asked.

"That's not it…"

"You miss flying?" Aang asked.

"Sorry, Twinkletoes, but not quite."

Zuko stumbled into the kitchen with bloodshot eyes. Katara gave him a chipper smile. "Hey, look who decided to show up! Better late than never!" She rolled her eyes, then mimed having an idea. "I know! Maybe Zuko could chase Aang for a while -- that would bring things back to normal!"

"Yeah, and maybe you could just barely escape with your lives, as usual," Zuko said, running a hand over his face.

Katara bent tea straight from the pot and sent it toward his shaded eyes; with a careless flick of his wrist, Zuko steamed it out of the air. "Not in the morning," he said. He blinked his eyes open. "You know I'm stronger in the morning."

"This isn't the Spirit Oasis," she said, standing a little taller.

"I know," Zuko said. He pointed at the wok. "This time you're making my breakfast."

Growling, Katara vaulted over the wok and twisted a rope of water from the fountain out and around, intending to knock him down first as she ran for him; Zuko grabbed her wrist and spun her -- like dancing, she thought -- into a wall of her own water. Katara sputtered. She pulled away the hair plastered to her face and turned around. "Cold?" Zuko asked. He sounded absurdly cheerful.

Katara bent the water from her clothes and flung it at him. Zuko grimaced, catching most of it in the face. He shook his hair dry and assumed a bending posture. Katara did the same. Teo wheeled backward. The Duke put his helmet on. "There we go," Toph said. She smiled and folded her hands behind her head as she lay on the floor. "Everything's back to normal."

Zuko made a plucking motion in the air. Katara sent a volley of rough ice spears his way; Zuko spun low on the floor and made a loose circle of fire that melted them. He scissored his legs in the air and popped back up, fireballs jetting from his fists as he ran for her; she made an ice slide for him but he rolled his eyes at her -- _I know that trick,_ they seemed to say -- and he skidded until he could swing his legs for her ankles and knock her down. From the floor, she encased her feet in ice and kicked straight for his stomach; he grabbed her hands and used her feet like a fulcrum to help him somersault. He landed hard on his back, their hands still linked.

"Stop it!" Aang stood up. He brandished his staff. "Quit! What's wrong with you two? It's like… It's like you _enjoy_ fighting!"

They rolled up from the floor and looked at each other. "I'm sorry," they said in unison.

"How am I supposed to bring peace to the world if I can't do it for you two?" Aang paced back and forth. "Honestly! You wake up and the first thing you want to do is fight?"

Zuko bowed low. "I'm sorry, Aang. I didn't mean to start a fight. I'm not like that, anymore."

Aang did not look any happier. "I'm sorry, too," Katara said. "I… I was just mad that Zuko was late for breakfast." _Wait. That came out wrong. _"Since, you know, I worked so hard on it and everything."

Sokka's eyes narrowed. "Uh huh…"

"And I didn't get much sleep," Zuko said.

"It's true, he didn't," Katara said.

Behind Aang, Sokka's eyes flared. He pointed and opened his mouth; Suki quickly covered it. Toph grinned. "They're not lying."

Zuko held his hands up. "Fighting is just something that we do, sometimes. It's not your fault."

"That's right, Aang," Katara said. "We just get on each other's nerves. But it's not your job to separate us."

"We should be doing that on our own," Zuko said. "We'll just fight less from now on." He gave her an odd little smile, a General Iroh smile, and she saw the jaws of the trap close around her. "Isn't that right?"

Katara forced a re-assuring smile. "That's right," she said, knotting her dress in her fingers. "We'll be nice."

_"Boring,"_ Toph said, and reached for her eggs.

"Would you like some more tea?" Zuko asked in his nice-guy voice.

Katara gritted her teeth. "That would be lovely. Thank you."

Zuko stood up and inspected the wok. "Omelet rice! My favorite!" He bent fire under the teapot. "You're so thoughtful."

"One does one's best," she said.

"Looks like things are coming along already," Haru said.

Aang frowned. "Yeah…" His ears perked up. "Do we still have to do stormbending?"

Zuko gave Katara a look. She shook her head. "Not if you don't want to," he said. "But you should still work on the lightning." He tipped some eggs into his bowl. "Maybe if you're not worried about hurting Katara, you'll make better progress."

Aang's brows furrowed. "There's nothing wrong with being worried about hurting somebody you care about!"

Zuko's good eye popped. "I know that…"

"Relax, Twinkletoes," Toph said. "Sparky just wants you to be your best."

"I _am_ my best! I'm the best I can be!" He headed out of the kitchen. "I have to go feed Appa."

Their eyes followed him. Zuko put his bowl down, as though no longer hungry. "So," Sokka said, giving them both an arched eyebrow, "about this lack of sleep-"

"And that is why it is sometimes best to approach the enemy from a position of weakness," Iroh said to Hakoda, as he strode into the kitchen with a folded Pai Sho board under one arm. "Good morning!"

"Morning, Pops," Toph said. "Have a good game?"

"It was very enjoyable," Iroh said. "Teaching Chief Hakoda the principles of Pai Sho allows me to reconsider my own strategy." He reached for his heart. "And it distracts me from the pangs of losing my beloved Xiao Zhi!"

Zuko groaned. "Do you want any tea?"

Iroh took one look at the pot and took a minute step backward. "I have already had some this morning, my nephew." He looked around. "Where is Aang?"

"Sulking," Toph said.

"He's feeding Appa," Katara said.

"I see." Iroh nodded gravely. "It is natural for a boy with such a generous heart to feel conflicted about holding two of his great allies in reserve when he could be using them to help his friend's father." He nodded toward Teo.

The kitchen seemed to freeze. Katara was vaguely aware of the kettle whistling, suddenly, as though the fire beneath it had leapt up. _How dare he try to make us feel guilty? We agreed to follow Aang -- it's his decision!_ She was about to open her mouth when Toph spoke: "You hear something, Sweetness?"

"What?"

"What about you, Sparky?" Toph picked her fingernails. "You hear anything? 'Cause I sure don't."

"No," Zuko said. His voice hardened. "I don't hear anything." He poured out two cups of tea and handed one to Katara. "Let's find Aang."

"Good thinking," Katara said. "You come too, Toph. We'll have a real bending rumble."

Toph popped up and joined them. "Maybe you should wear your _bending clothes_, Katara."

"Maybe she shouldn't," Sokka said.

Suki flicked him in the forehead. "You're no fun."

* * *

Katara's eyebrow twitched. "Okay, now it's getting old."

"He can't just keep running off like this," Zuko said. "Why would he take the bison with him?"

They stared at the empty spot in the stable. "Maybe he just wanted to graze him," Haru said.

"Or he wanted a man-to-bison chat," Sokka said. "Appa _is_ a good listener."

"Do you think he'll bring back food?" The Duke scratched his belly.

Haru put a hand to the child's head. "We can go foraging today. Don't worry."

"Is something the matter?" They turned. Iroh had poked his head into the stable. Behind him, Hakoda pushed the door open.

"The Avatar is gone?" Katara's father asked.

"He does this, sometimes," Katara said. "It's no big deal." She looked out at the morning sky. It was surprisingly dark and heavy -- it felt more like late afternoon than the breakfast hour. She could almost feel her hair curling in the humidity. Sweat prickled along her back. Another storm was on the way. "He'll come back," she said. "He always comes back."

* * *

Aang did come back. He waited until nightfall when they all sat staring at a dinner they had no desire to eat. In the meantime, Katara had spent hours cleaning every inch of her and the family's belongings: she started by sweeping her room and ended up on her knees polishing the Duke's little wrist-guards, wondering how she'd even found them, not consciously remembering having entered his room. Zuko had slowly gone mad throughout the day -- she heard distant explosions that she thought might be thunder until she heard the sizzle of lightning in the air and his huff of frustration on the humid breeze. When Aang stepped into the warm orange circle of their fire's light, Zuko was up on his feet before the rest of them could speak.

"Where have you been?"

"Just flying," Aang said.

"Just _flying?_" Zuko turned on his toe. "Do you have any idea what's out there? There are war balloons! There are patrols from here to Ba Sing Se! You could have been killed!"

"But I wasn't," Aang said.

"Because you got _lucky_," Zuko said. He took the bowl from Aang's hands when the airbender reached for it. "No. We're not done. You're apologizing. Right now."

Aang's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You drove us all crazy," Zuko said, his face heating. He pointed at Katara. "You hurt Katara's feelings. She was worried sick." He gave her a _back me up_ glare.

She nodded. "I was worried, Aang. I don't want to restrict your freedom; I just wish I knew where you were going, sometimes."

Aang looked from her to the others. Sokka looked somewhere near the floor. Aang's face fell. "I'm sorry," he said in a small voice. "I just… There were some things I had to think about."

"That's what _we're_ here for, Twinkletoes." Toph sat up a little straighter. "You don't have to go running off the next time you want to think."

"This time, I did," Aang said. He took a deep breath and looked at Katara. "There's something I have to tell you."

"You can tell us, Aang," Sokka said. "We're your family. You can tell us anything."

Aang looked around. Iroh and Hakoda had merely retrieved their dinners and left the kitchen, talking of more Pai Sho games. Aang sighed a little and sat down. "When Azula hit me with the lightning, my seventh chakra was blocked. Opening it would have let me enter the Avatar State. But there was something I had to do to open it, and I couldn't do it."

"That's okay," Zuko said. He sat down beside Aang. "We'll work on it together."

Aang edged away. "This isn't something you can help me with, Zuko."

A flicker of hurt passed over Zuko's scarred face. "Why not?"

Aang glanced at Katara, bit his lip, and looked at the floor. "The seventh chakra is the chakra of attachment," he said. "It was blocked because there was something I couldn't let go of."

The memory of insistent lips pressed on hers fluttered across Katara's consciousness. Her heart did a little flip and her stomach went cold. _Oh, no._ "Aang…"

"It won't go away, Katara," he said in a hushed voice. "I keep on waiting for it to get easier and it just won't…"

"Oh, Aang." Sokka ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, buddy."

"Aang, you like…?" Haru looked between them. His finger pointed at each of them in turn, like he was adding something up.

"Wake up and smell the sea prunes, Jook-stache," Toph said. "What are you people, _blind?_"

"Toph, be quiet," Zuko said. "Aang, this is…" He looked up, searched Katara's face. "This is great… Caring about someone is great…"

"No, it's not," Aang said hollowly. "I can't bend the lightning. I can't reach the Avatar State. I can't help anyone."

"That's not true, Aang," Katara said. She crossed to him. "You just need to try harder-"

_"I have tried!"_ Aang backed up and stood. He walked the floor, staff in hand. "I've tried for days! I've given it everything I have and all you do is stand there stormbending with Zuko!"

Zuko flinched. "Aang… I didn't know…"

"I saw her first! She woke me up! She brought me back to life!" He pointed. "I don't know what happened under Ba Sing Se and I don't care! I love her!"

Sokka frowned. "What happened under Ba Sing Se?"

"Yeah, Sparky, what happened under Ba Sing Se?"

"Nothing," Katara and Zuko said in unison. For the thousandth time, Katara re-imagined that moment: the glow of the crystals, the tough nubby feel of Zuko's scar and the contrast with the soft skin of his jaw, his chapped lips under her thumb, and an explosion that rocked the earth under her feet, Aang's face and Zuko's voice, the unrestrained anger in it as he demanded _What is he doing here?_

"Nothing happened," Zuko said. He reached for Aang but his hands fell to his knees. "Aang, I promise you. Nothing happened."

Aang's tired eyes lifted to Katara's face. "Katara?"

"Nothing," she murmured. "There was nothing."

His little mouth hardened. "Toph?" He swallowed. "What do their hearts say?"

Toph's eyebrows lifted. "Well…" She licked her lips. "Well, it's a little tough to tell…"

"You don't trust us?" The words left Katara's mouth before she could stop them. "You think we would lie?"

"Well, to be fair, sis-"

"Shut up, Sokka." Katara stepped forward. Aang suddenly looked a little afraid. She kept walking. "You hide this big truth about the Avatar State from us and all along you've suspected us of _lying_ about Ba Sing Se? I told you everything! I told you how Zuko seemed confused. I told you we shouldn't trust him. I was completely honest with you!"

"I know, I know!" Aang wrung his hands. "I tried to tell you so many times. I've been trying to tell you since…since Aunt Wu! And then I kissed you and-"

"You _kissed _her, Twinkletoes?!"

"You kissed my baby sister?"

"-And you didn't say anything, you never mentioned it, and I didn't know what to do and then Ozai wasn't there and Zuko came and we had to learn firebending and-

"You didn't say anything?" Zuko frowned at her. "Nothing at all?"

Katara flushed. "It's none of your business," she said. "This is between me and Aang."

"No, it's not," Sokka said. "Aang, when you picked me up from Chameleon Bay, you said everything was fine and it was all under control. Was that a lie?"

Aang hung his head. "Yes…"

"Okay. So let me get this straight. You have a crush on my sister, and because of that, you can't enter the Avatar State?"

Aang shrugged helplessly. "More or less."

"Oh. Well. Good to know. Because that would have really helped us when Ozai _took our dad prisoner_ and Azula _told us she had Suki._"

Goosebumps rippled up over Katara's arms. She turned to Sokka. Her brother's face was pure black fury. "You were standing right next to me," he said in a rasp. "You were right there with me and you knew Azula had her and she was Azula's _favorite_ and if you could just get over some stupid crush we could have _rescued her_ and-"

"Sokka, I'm sorry-"

"You're _sorry?_" Sokka rolled to his feet. "Aang, they _broke our dad's ribs._ They kicked him until he spat blood. Teo's dad is _still in prison_. People _died._"

Aang's eyes filled with tears. "I love her, Sokka. I love her and I-"

"And _I _love _her!_" Sokka grabbed Aang and forced him to face Suki. "I _love_ her and they had her in chains and I couldn't get to her and I'm going to spend the rest of my life making up for that because _you_ couldn't get your act together-"

_"Stop!"_ Zuko ripped Sokka away from Aang. "Stop it."

"Stay out of it, Zuko-"

"No! He's a child! He made a mistake!" Zuko's voice was suddenly large and deep as the shadows dancing at the edge of their fire. "You have _no idea_ what it's like to want someone's love _ so much _ that you would do _anything _ to get it. You've never had to live with that kind of mistake."

"It's not a mistake!" Wind almost snuffed the fire out completely. "How can loving Katara be a mistake? She's the greatest person I know! She-"

"Aang." Katara blinked. Something hot and wet rolled from her eyes. "Aang."

He was in her arms, suddenly, the same body she had held and healed and hugged and trained, warm and alive and scarred, the moon-peach fuzz on his scalp brushing her neck as he buried his wet face there. "I love you," he said. "I love you more than anything and I'm never letting you go; I _can't_ let you go…" He squeezed her and her arms were around him, his smell like warm hay and cotton, his body stronger and leaner now, his fingers digging into her ribs as he said: "I love you and you love me too, I know you do, I know it's right…"

"Aang…" She pulled away, held his face in her hands. He looked terribly old -- not one boy but a thousand boys, not one grief but a hundred years of it. "I need you to be honest with me. If you really love me, you'll be honest with me."

"Yes," he said. "Anything."

She swallowed. "Could you have destroyed Ozai's fortress in eight minutes?" She felt her lips start to tremble. "I've seen you do such amazing things in the Avatar State, but I don't know -- could you have saved my dad and Suki and Pipsqueak and Haru and Teo's dads, if you had let me go?"

Aang paled. And she felt her hands slip away. "Katara, I'm sorry-"

"You know what hurts me, Aang?" She took hold of his hands. "It's not just my dad or Suki or the others. It's not just that you lied. It's that when you don't have the Avatar State, you're vulnerable." She sniffled. "You're putting yourself in danger _because of me._"

"No, that's not true-"

She squeezed his hands. "Aang, you don't get it. I _do_ love you." She breathed through tears. "I love you so much I would rather never see you _ever _again than let something bad happen to you because of me. And I need you to remember that."

And she left, and as she passed Zuko she saw something on his face that was like a memory or maybe sudden understanding, and when she entered the shadows her father was there and he was silent when he opened his arms to hold her.

* * *

**Heavy, innit? Extra love to whoever can count the most references to canon in this chapter.**

**That was really tough, guys. Thanks for sticking with me through it. I'll try to bring more smiles next time. **


	6. Chapter 6

Stormbenders

**Stormbenders**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Wow, there were so many reviews last time! Thank you! I really have to learn how to write like that all the time…**

**Thanks: Drisela, who provided me with fresh art.**

* * *

Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them. _--Jean Paul Richter_

* * *

She cried for a long time.

It took so little to set her off, these days. At first it was just the look on Aang's face and the way he buried his head in her neck and Sokka's fury and Suki's silence. And then it was Hakoda's awkward embrace, the way he didn't quite know her anymore, the way it should have been her mother doing this, only her mother wasn't there and wouldn't ever be. And then it was her headache and the way her whole body hurt and how she didn't know if she should give up the bloodbending or cling to it because it made her stronger and more useful than she felt right now.

Katara lay on her bed and listened to the sound of her own moist, tear-thickened breathing and thought of Aang's broken body clutched close to hers, the way the water had helped her soar upward and how she had felt scared but certain, like she knew what to do. But she hadn't a clue now. Now she thought of his scar and the way she had watched him sleep, watched his hair grow, watched the baby fat melt away as he recovered ever so slowly. A voice inside her mind that sounded too much like Hama's said: _Your doing, your doing, your doing._

When Aang came, he spoke through the door: "Katara?"

"Please go away, Aang. I can't see you right now."

"Katara, please…"

"Aang, I'm not mad at you. I just need to be alone for a while."

"Katara, I know I should have told you sooner-"

"Go to bed, Aang."

Silence. Then she heard the sound of his trudging footsteps and the low murmur of Toph's voice. They faded away in the direction of the stable. Her hands clutched together. _Please take care of him. Please don't let him run away. _

She closed her eyes. Sleep came mercifully fast. In her dream, Yue was there and she said _I have to do this. _Katara watched the princess walk calmly into the water of the Oasis. She saw Yue's royal finery pooling around her like the petals of a lotus, and heard Sokka pleading as the waters of the oasis flared gold, turned to molten fire. When she looked down the koi fish Tui and La were two dancing dragons that circled Yue's glowing, disintegrating body. _I have to do this,_ Yue said calmly from within smoke and flame. _I have to do this. I have to do this._

Katara opened her eyes and saw the waning moon like a smile in her window, and when she left her room she was not at all surprised to see two shapes sitting just outside the glow of a low fire. Iroh sat against a pillar and Zuko faced the darkness, his back to the fire, his knees drawn to his chest. An open Pai Sho game sat behind him, the tiles ignored.

"Hello, my dear," Iroh said, and Zuko flinched. "Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you, General."

"Oh, no, please, call me Uncle." Iroh snapped his fingers and something under the teapot flickered. Katara knelt. She smoothed her dress. Iroh brought the tea to boiling and poured it, handed a cup to her. He gestured at the portable gameboard -- it was a large square of leather with squares burned into its surface. The tiles seemed worn; they were shiny where fingers had frequently touched them. "Do you play Pai Sho?"

"No."

"Your father's skills are improving. But he insists that the game takes too long. I keep telling him that Pai Sho cannot be rushed. It requires careful thought and planning."

"Dad's better at going out and facing something head-on." She smiled. "He's a really good leader."

Iroh sipped his tea. "He is not the only one." Katara blushed_. _"I hope you will forgive me for noticing, but pink is quite becoming on you." Iroh examined a minute crack in his teacup. "I can see why he likes you."

If possible, her blush only intensified. "I thought it was just a crush."

"Oh, no," Iroh said, a little ruefully. "It runs much deeper than that."

Katara hung her head. She was reminded of Master Pakku, and the way her breath had steamed against the snow as her resolve firmed. _You can't knock me down. _Those were the days. "I think I'm doing him more harm than good."

Zuko turned around. "That's not true. You brought him back to life."

"The water from the Spirit Oasis did-"

"No. You did. You didn't waste your gift on something stupid like…" He turned so that she saw his ruined eye. "Something stupid." Beside her, Iroh perked up like a pygmy puma scenting something tasty in the air. But he said nothing. Zuko paced. "I _knew_ he was alive. You would never let him die."

Katara hugged her arms. "Well, there's none left. The next time Azula-"

"There won't be a next time." Zuko stared out at the stars. At his sides, his hands had curled into fists.

Katara nodded. "That's right." She turned to Iroh. "I want to go on the mission."

_"What?"_ Zuko whirled. "No. Absolutely not."

She gave him her frostiest glare. "Was I talking to you? No."

"Oh, so you want to go by yourself. Well, have fun! I hope you have a great time!" He threw his hands up in the air. "You're insane, this is crazy-"

"Tell me about the weapon," Katara said, glancing at Iroh.

"Don't tell her anything! We're not going!"

"If you don't want to come, Zuko, you don't-"

_"Don't want to come?"_ The fire flared. "I'm never going back there. Ever. I'm staying right here where I belong."

"Well, good for you. But I have a job to do." She pointed herself toward Iroh. "There's one full moon before the comet comes. That's when my bending is most powerful. I should go-"

"Are you even listening to yourself? You can't just abandon Aang because of how he feels about you!"

Her mouth fell open. Her voice went low and cold. "How dare you?"

Zuko pointed down the hall. "He loves you. If you leave, it will destroy him."

"You don't know that."

Fine lines appeared at his good eye. He spoke in a pained voice. "Yes. I do. We don't have to leave. We can train him."

She felt herself almost wilt, then drew herself to her full height. "What's all this _we _stuff? _You're_ staying right here. You said so yourself." She firmed her lips. "I'm not asking you to do anything-"

"Yes, you are! You can't get in without me!"

"My nephew raises a good point," Iroh said. "Zuko is the only way you have into the palace. If he does not go with you, it is best that you stay here."

"Thank you, Uncle."

"But if he does not go with you, then we cannot prepare for the weapon."

Katara smiled. "Thank you, Uncle."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "You can't prepare that quickly. You don't have enough time-"

"There is enough time to evacuate the towns that need it," Iroh said. "The war will not end with Ozai's death, nephew. There are Fire Nation armies all over the world, waiting for the comet. Time is on their side."

Zuko's knuckles tightened. "But we know where the Fire Navy is. I was at those meetings! I know their plans!"

A deep line appeared between Iroh's brows. "Do you think my brother won't have changed his plan of attack, now that he knows you travel with the Avatar?"

Zuko flushed. He looked again at the stones. "I won't leave him," Zuko said quietly. "I made a promise."

Iroh sighed heavily. "Your desire to remain with the Avatar is not wrong, my nephew. Already you are a stronger, better man than Ozai could ever hope to be." Iroh reached over to the Pai Sho board and adjusted a tile. "Now is the time to use that strength for others."

"But I am," Zuko said. He let his hair cover his eyes. "I'm teaching Aang. At least, I think I am."

Iroh shifted uncomfortably. "Jealousy is always born of admiration, Prince Zuko."

"There's nothing to be jealous of." Zuko turned to Katara. "You really didn't say _anything_ when he kissed you?"

Katara reddened. "He flew away. And then…" She shrugged. "And then everything happened."

His good eye popped. "So you just left him _hanging?_"

"I thought he was just being sweet!"

"You train him in your _underwear!_ What was he _supposed _to think?"

"Children," Iroh said, holding up his hands. "What's done is done. The human heart does not change for another's wishes, and neither does the past." He sipped his tea. "Both of you must decide your next course of action. Do not decide too quickly. Whatever path you choose, you must follow it through to the end."

They sighed. Zuko turned away from them both before pushing himself to his feet and walking to the furthest edge of the terrace. He sat down and hung his legs over the side. The sky lightened gently; from their west-facing vantage point they wouldn't see the dawn. The moon, or a ghostly glimmer of it, still hung in the paling blue sky. Katara turned from him to the general. Iroh watched his nephew carefully and with more than a little sadness.

"He is right, you know. You do not have to leave."

"I'm holding Aang back."

"That is a matter of opinion. The Avatar is wise to nurture the love in his heart. It is what separates him from men like my brother."

"I know…" Katara picked a thread from her dress. "General Fong tried to force the Avatar State, once. Nothing worked. Then he buried me alive. Aang nearly destroyed his fortress." Her fingers tightened on her hem. "Aang has to learn how to control his power, or it will control him." And with that, she stood up, dusted herself off, and went to sit a careful distance from Zuko. The feel of her legs swinging out into empty space gave her a fresh dose of goosebumps.

"We have to figure this out," she said.

"There's nothing to figure out. We're staying."

"I don't want to fight-"

"No. You don't." His voice had attained a quiet, detached calm. He looked away from her and into the mist. From this side, she saw only un-marked skin, the outline of a face that might have been.

A distinct chill expanded from her stomach to her skin. Her fingers curled around the lip of stone beneath her. "Are you challenging me?"

"Is that what you want?"

She looked at the last, almost-translucent sliver of moon in the sky. A solution suddenly appeared with the first blue pre-dawn light. "Yes. Let's get it over with." She turned to him. "If I win, we're going."

"And if you lose, you're never bringing it up again." He turned so that she saw the scar, too. "I won't hold back, this time."

For some strange reason, her heart did a little flip. "Me either."

Something in his face softened. "You don't have to do this. I don't want to hurt you."

"Who says you're going to?"

In answer, he merely reached for his swords. They sat discarded near a pillar, and he shouldered the sheath. "What are you doing, nephew?" Iroh asked.

"Finishing something," Zuko said.

Iroh stood. "This isn't the way-"

"You've never countered these, have you?" Zuko moved and suddenly two swords were in his hands; she was oddly reminded of Jet's twin hooks. It seemed their thin blades absorbed the fire's light somehow and reflected it back at her; they gleamed.

"No," she said, swallowing. "I haven't."

"I cut Aang free of his chains with these." The swords whirled and he was closer to her, his feet moved lazily, he was still talking: "I sliced right through the cuffs." The swords moved and air stirred around her, she blinked, she backed up. "Let's change the deal," Zuko said, and he had his old voice back, his _Aren't you a big girl, now?_ voice. "All you have to do is keep me from taking your necklace. You're already wearing it. It shouldn't be too hard."

"My…" Her fingers trailed to the pendant. Katara raised her chin. "Fine."

"Good. Get ready." She turned to the fountain, and as her focus shifted to the water she understood it was a trap, understood what he intended, and she froze the water over her arms just in time to feel two blades slice down into the icy sleeves. Her crossed arms shook with effort just keeping him from pinning them to the floor.

"I thought you had changed," she said through gritted teeth.

"I have changed," he said. "But Ozai hasn't." Zuko moved and the swords sheared through the ice, sending glittering chunks of it to the floor. The force sent her aching arms swinging to either side. Katara stumbled backward, summoned more water. She clothed herself in it. The cool armor coiled up her legs and arms. She cast water whips at his feet and he jumped away nimbly. He moved as though picking up the swords had awakened something new inside him. His toes barely touched the floor. The blades were an extension of his arms; fire skimmed right off them and she had only enough time to try whipping him once more before sizzling hot steel arced over her head and she had to lean back to avoid it.

Growling, she pulled the water from her body and pushed a ball of ice at Zuko's stomach; he flew backward into a pillar and she froze him there. Panting, he spat before staring her in the face. "This is nothing," he said.

"Do your worst."

Inhaling, he let loose a mighty jet of fire and broke free of the ice. Spinning, his blades making a complicated pattern that she only recognized from the sparking ball of blue light now developing between his swords. He moved low and she brought up her water and when the lightning hit the wave it glowed like a net full of stars. The water steamed and trembled in her grip; she felt lightning coursing through it and she watched him through the wall of water and light, saw him start to run. She channeled the simmering water down the fountain. The temple glowed and the air filled with the smell of a storm. He ran straight up a pillar, kicked away with legs streaming fire. He landed behind her and she spun a water whip under his legs; he jumped but she grabbed his ankle with the water and dragged him into the fountain's channel. Freezing the water that snaked up his legs, Katara ducked his fireballs and coated him in ice. She flicked her wrist and suddenly he was flying backward.

"Zuko! No!" Iroh reached for him but it was too late; Zuko's shape vanished over the edge, into the mist. Horrified, the general turned to her. "What have you done?"

A hot pulse of life radiated up to her and she said: "Not enough."

Zuko roared back into the room from the abyss, fire at his feet and hands. He skimmed the ice and the steel squealed along its glittering surface; he turned, spun, and swung the swords to slice clean through a fresh volley of ice-balls. She raised her hands just as he slammed her against the wall and crossed the blades over her neck. This close, she felt his breath on her damp face. He smirked. "All I have to do is squeeze."

"I know the feeling." Pain thrummed through her head as she took hold of the veins in his neck and slowly began to choke them off. Dread replaced triumph on his face. She could smell his sweat.

"Don't," he said. The blades trembled. "I'll lose my grip."

She invaded his arms, felt the water and blood inside them like threads that led only to her fingers. Pain shimmered behind her eyes. "That's the idea."

"I'm slipping-"

"Stop fighting."

"No." Baring his teeth, he leaned in closer. The steel creaked in his hands; she felt the swords up under ears, in her hair. "Look at me."

"Stop-"

_"Look at me."_ He was trembling, his gaze focusing in and out, his breath too shallow. He turned fractionally, each movement stilted and awkward, so she could see the scar. "Is this what you want?"

Stars appeared in her vision. "No." She swallowed against the steel. It was still warm. "But my people need me, Aang-"

"All Aang ever did wrong was love you."

Something inside her cracked. "Don't-"

He lunged with bared teeth. This was his last inch of strength and she understood his intentions as clearly as though he'd spoken them: _He's going to bite the necklace off me_. So she let him free and his arms fell and she kicked up off the wall and threw her forehead forward. It connected. A haze of pain exploded in her vision and they both cried out; they were falling clumsily and Zuko's hand closed over her neck and her hand closed over his. Then there was nothing.

* * *

"Well hey there, look who's up?"

Katara's eyes blinked open. Toph and Sokka stood in the door. Aang and her father were conspicuously absent. Katara tried to sit up. Pain and nausea rippled up along her body. "Easy, there," Toph said. "You did some tough bending this morning. You'd better rest."

Katara swallowed. Her hand flew up to her neck. The necklace was still there. She sighed and fell back on the pillows. "I won."

"Oh yeah, you won all right," Sokka said. "You've got an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Fire Palace! Congratulations!" He threw his hands in the air. "Katara, what were you thinking?"

"Sokka, I just went through this with Zuko-"

"Oh, great. You can tell Jerkbender, but you can't tell me. Awesome."

"Sokka-"

"No." Her brother pushed away from the door. "We have Suki back. We have Dad back. Everyone's healthy, and we have enough supplies. Why do you want to ruin it by leaving?"

She sighed. "You were the one who said Aang should get over me."

"Oh, and you going on a suicide mission is really going to help with that, Katara."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yes! No! I don't know! We'll introduce him to some other girls! You could stop taking baths!"

Despite herself, she laughed. "I'm not sure that'll help."

"Anything has to be better than you and Sparky ditching us, though, right?" Toph asked. She toed the space between two stones. "I mean, come on, we'll get through it like we always do."

Katara sighed. "We're not ditching you, Toph. We're coming back. But right now we have a chance to save a lot of people." She pursed her lips. "We have to make sure that what happened in Ba Sing Se doesn't happen again. If we get Ozai's battle plans, we can really make a difference."

"But why does it have to be you guys?" Toph asked, balling her fists. "Can't someone else do it?"

Katara shook her head before remembering that Toph could not see her do so. "Zuko is the only one who can get close enough." She tilted her head. "You wouldn't want him to go there alone, would you?"

"No…" Toph frowned. "Why can't I go? I don't need some special secret passage into the palace; I'll just blow a hole right through it-"

"No," Zuko said. He moved stiffly into the room, and Katara saw the shadow of a bruise on his chin. The lip seemed a little puffier than usual.

"Why not?" Toph asked, turning to him.

He crouched. "I need you here," he said. "You have to make sure my uncle doesn't eat too much."

"Ha ha, very funny, Sparky. I mean it, why-"

"Hey!" Zuko silently held a finger up to his lips. "Don't move."

Toph stiffened. "What is it?"

"Can't you feel it?" Zuko walked his fingers crab-like along Toph's shoulder. "It's headed right for your neck!" His hand darted for her neck and started tickling; Toph yelped and fell to her knees, futilely trying to bat his hands away. "It's going to bite you!" His tickling hands raced up under her arms. "There's two of them!"

Toph shrieked laughter. "I'm going to kill you!" She clawed for his face; he grabbed her two ankles in his one hand and pulled them out from under her.

"I caught a hogmonkey!" Zuko said standing up with her ankles in his hands. Her long hair fell out of its bun. "I'd better go skin it-"

"Sparky, no!" Toph flailed her arms above the floor.

He moved for the door. "Maybe I should clean it first; I think there's a fountain around here somewhere-"

_"No! Put me down!"_ Toph pounded ineffectually on his shins from her upside-down position.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Come on, Champ." He let Toph down far enough so that her palms touched the ground. He turned to Katara. "How are you?"

She smiled. "Still got my necklace." She wagged a finger at him. "You tried to bite me. I'm telling your uncle on you."

"You bit my sister?"

"She almost knocked my teeth out! I have a loose one, now!"

"You knocked his teeth out, Sweetness?"

"We could always tie it to a doorknob and pull," Katara said. "Or maybe I should make you some nice mushy baby food so it won't hurt your tiny little teeth-"

"I do not have tiny teeth! You have an enormous forehead!"

"I do not!" She felt along her hairline. It still hurt where her head had made contact with his chin. "Do I?"

"It's huge. And very hard. My mouth still hurts."

Sokka gave Zuko a very odd look. "Oh, really?"

Zuko took this as his cue to leave, for some reason. "Come on, wheelbarrow. Let's load you up with some lunch."

"I'm not a wheelbarrow, I'm a champion! Put me down!"

They left, Zuko walking Toph along so that her body paralleled the floor as her palms slapped the stones. Katara watched them go. She caught herself leaning out of bed to follow their movements. Sokka hove into her vision, a distinct frown on his face. "You sure your head's okay?"

"I'm fine," Katara said. "It's just weird how well those two get along."

Sokka nodded and looked out the door. "Sparky probably just likes having a little sister who's not trying to kill him." He folded his arms. "So. The plan. I hate it."

"I know."

"I don't think you do. Do you want to talk to Suki? Have her tell you what Azula does to her favorite prisoners?"

"No…"

"Because Dad's grilling her on it, right now. He's suddenly very interested."

Katara's heart sank. "Oh, no…"

"And Aang decided that the stable needed another entrance. Just so you know."

She hung her head. "And what about you?"

Sokka crossed the room. His arms slipped around her and he rested his chin on her head. "I still think you're the best sister in the world." He pulled away. "Even if you are pretty reckless and naïve."

"Reckless, maybe, but I am _not_ naïve."

"Sis. Aang's liked you since he laid eyes on you. You're naïve."

Her jaw dropped. "You _knew?_"

Sokka used two fingers to point at his face. "See these? We call them _eyes._" He ruffled her hair. "You've really gotta work on that whole _noticing things_ bit."

She stuck her tongue out. "I'll get right on it, Mr. Sneak Attack."

"I happen to be very stealthy!"

"Tell it to the Five Seven Five Society, Sokka."

* * *

That night at dinner, Iroh laid out a map of the Fire Palace. "The palace is like a small town," he said. "It has many layers of security. First, there is the main wall, here. It is patrolled by archers and firebenders. Then there are guards at each of the main entrances. In addition, there is a river far below the palace that flows into the bay."

"Whoa, so there really is a secret river?" Sokka asked.

"It's not so secret if _you_ know about it," Zuko said.

"Hey, they taught Aang about it in school," Sokka said. He turned. "Isn't that right, Aang?" Aang said nothing. He looked away. Sokka winced and turned around. "Well, then. Moving on."

Iroh cleared his throat. "There is a network of secret passages and hidden tunnels extending from inside the palace to the volcano through the Dragonbone Catacombs. But after the invasion, entering the palace without being noticed will be extremely difficult. And if you are caught, your fate will not be pleasant." He sighed. "That is why I think it best that you enter through the main gates, in broad daylight." He turned to Zuko. "You must convince your sister that the Avatar has rejected you. Tell her that the past was too much for him to forgive."

"So I just go there and beg to be let back inside? Are you crazy?"

Iroh lifted his teacup. "As I have frequently told Chief Hakoda during our Pai Sho lessons, it is sometimes best to approach an opponent from a position of weakness. You and Miss Katara must behave like two unlucky travelers looking for work. Azula's Dai Li agents will notice you very soon. I have a friend who will give you a job across the street from their favorite bathhouse!"

Zuko frowned at his uncle. "Where are we going?"

Iroh smiled. "The Blue Sparrowkeet," he said. "The finest teashop in the capitol!"

"Not another teashop," Zuko said. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean, another one?" Teo asked.

"Sparky worked in a teashop in Ba Sing Se," Toph said. "He wore an _apron._"

Behind his hand, Teo snickered. Haru's mustache twitched. Zuko covered his face with his hands. "Go on. Laugh."

"There is nothing funny about making an honest living," Iroh said, just as Suki's giggles overpowered her.

"Teabender," Sokka said. Suki and the others doubled over. Katara suppressed a smile as she watched Zuko's good ear slowly go pink.

"This teashop is even better than the Jasmine Dragon," Iroh said, and Haru erupted in laughter. "Is that a funny name?" the general asked. He frowned. "The Blue Sparrowkeet is a fine establishment in the heart of the Oyster District-"

_"The Oyster District?"_ Zuko asked. "No. Absolutely not. We're not going."

Sokka snorted. "Scared of some oysters, teabender?"

"No," Zuko said. He glowered at his uncle. "I can't believe you would send us-" He took notice of Hakoda's arrival, stiffened, and continued: "To such a wealthy neighborhood."

"It's wealthy?" Katara asked.

"Well, a lot of money changes hands," Iroh said. "I think you'll be a big hit!"

Katara drew her knees to her chest. She tried to imagine herself making tea alongside Zuko. _His tea is terrible; why would anyone pay him for it? _For some reason, though, it was a lot easier than imagining herself lying to Azula and coming out alive. "But what am I supposed to tell her?" Katara asked. "I mean, Zuko's got a pretty good story. What do I say?"

Iroh's brows rose. "It is always best to tell the truth," he said. "Tell Azula that you fear that the Avatar's feelings for you are a distraction from his goal."

"I'm sitting right here, you know," Aang said hollowly, from his place in the shadows with Momo.

"Then perhaps you should join us," Iroh said. He smiled a little sadly. "For Azula, the opportunity to bring her brother home in disgrace will be irresistible." He sighed. "Both of you will also have information on the Avatar. She cannot afford to leave you in the capital, where you can spread stories of his greatness."

From the shadows, Aang snorted. Katara turned to him and bit her lip. "Aang, you _are_ great-"

"Not great enough," Aang said, and the bitterness in his voice sliced across her heart.

"Aang, don't talk to her that way," Zuko said. "She's only-"

"She's only leaving me to play teabender with you," Aang said. The firelight cast sharp, deep shadows across his face. "I get it."

Zuko shut his eyes. "It's not like that, I promise-"

"Stop promising me things, Zuko." Aang stood. He picked up his staff. "Do what you want. Don't mind me. I'm just the Avatar." He ran for the balcony, snapped open his glider, and took off into the night.

Zuko sighed steam. "I told you," he said, lifting his eyes. "I told you a hundred times."

Katara wiped her eyes. "We're doing this for him." Her eyes found her father's. "Someday he'll understand that."

"We'll be here," Sokka said. He rested an arm across her shoulders. "We'll help."

Iroh cleared his throat. "I'm afraid to say that we cannot remain much longer. Once my nephew and Katara begin their journey, we will be leaving."

Katara frowned. "Where are you going?"

Iroh blinked. "I am afraid I cannot tell you that."

"What? Why? My dad and my brother-"

"The Dai Li," Suki said. "The Dai Li are going to question you, Katara. They're going to ask you where Aang is. And it'll be a lot easier for you if you just don't know."

"Miss Suki is correct." Iroh folded his hands. "In all things, you must behave as though you have broken away from the Avatar. If he did not trust Zuko, would have told him his destination? Would you know his plans?"

"But…" Katara looked between Iroh and her father. "How will we find you? How will we get the information to you?"

"We'll find you," Hakoda said. "General Iroh is working on planting another spy inside the palace. But right now, you're our best chance. If nothing else, you can try to steal a messenger hawk. You can even pretend that you're trying to get a message to Sokka because you miss him."

"But I _will_ miss him!"

"And how can we hide what we know from the Dai Li?" Zuko asked.

"Azula and her spies do not know everything," Iroh said. "They may not know to ask you about the Sun Warriors, or the dragons, or even the Avatar State. Both your sister and my brother tend to believe their own assumptions, flawed as they may be. Try to let them deceive themselves. That way, you'll have less to remember!"

Katara hung her head. "This is going to be really hard, isn't it?"

"We don't have to go," Zuko said. "We can stay."

She looked at the empty spot where Aang had sat. "No," she said. "We can't."

* * *

That night she gathered up all her resolve and waited alone for Aang in the stable. A gaping hole in the stone let light pool on the floor in two places -- one the elegant arch for bison exit, one the jagged wound in the wall. She thought she saw scorch marks and wondered which Aang had bent, the explosion or the wall itself. She lay against Appa and waited. She waited so long that Appa's deep breathing and warm fur lulled her to sleep and she only noticed Aang's arrival when he crouched beside her and touched her hand. "Katara?"

"Aang." She blinked and tried to summon a smile. "You're back."

"Yeah. I'm back." His expression hardened. "Are you and Zu-Zu going to yell at me again?"

She frowned. "Zu-Zu?" She somehow doubted that Aang meant the Water Tribe flute of the same name. It sounded like a word Toph might make up. "Um, no. I'm here by myself." She sat up. "We have to talk."

Aang groaned. "I know." He threw himself against Appa's side. "Your dad already tried to tell me everything."

Katara's jaw fell open. "My _dad_?"

"He said that when you love somebody you have to leave them behind, sometimes. Iroh tried to tell me, too. He started talking about Zuko's mom, but it's not the same! You're not my mom!" Aang scowled at the floor and began cleaning his bison whistle. "I don't have a mom."

"Everyone has a mother, Aang. You don't know -- maybe she even stayed at this temple, once!"

"Stop." Aang's hands stilled. "You're changing the subject."

Katara sighed. "I know." She peered at him from the corner of her eye. "Aang, I have a chance to really make a difference, here-"

"And you're not making a difference with me?"

Katara bit her lip. She looked at her feet on the stones. They seemed too big, suddenly. Big, ugly, dirty feet. She had never really looked at them, when she lived at the South Pole. They just vanished inside her moccasins. She had never really looked at herself until this year. "I am," she said. "I love being here. I love helping you. I love our family."

"But not enough to stay, right?"

She recoiled. "It's not about that. General Iroh says-"

"I don't care what he says! He's wrong! He's wrong to send you! And it's wrong for your dad to let him!" He raised his hands. "How can he say he loves you when he wants you to leave?"

"Dad doesn't really want me to leave," Katara said. She took a deep breath. "I asked to go."

Aang flinched. His eyes welled with tears. He turned to her. "Did I do something wrong? Is it because I told you how I feel? Do you hate me, now?"

"Aang, _no…_" Carefully, she reached over and covered his hand. "I don't hate you at all. I love you. You're a part of my family."

Tears leaked from his eyes. "Then why are you doing this?" he asked. "Why are you hurting me like this?"

A little sob struggled up from her throat. She opened her arms and he crawled up against her, pressing his face into her shoulder. She held him, rocked him. "I don't want to hurt you," she said. "I don't want to hurt anybody."

"I love you so much," Aang said. "I didn't know what it was at first but now I do and I can't stop…" His grip on her tightened. He spoke in a very small voice. "How come you like him so much more than me?"

Katara frowned. "What? Who?"

Aang pulled away and sat down. "Zuko. You're going away together. You like him."

Katara reminded herself that laughing would have been more than impolite, at the moment. "Have you been drinking cactus juice? I don't _like_ him."

"But you liked Jet, and they're almost the same!"

"How? Just because they both stole things and lied to people and use two blade things and hid out in the woods and-" She stopped herself. "Okay, so maybe you have a point. But I didn't like Jet after I found out what he was doing."

"But you forgave him," Aang said. "You wanted to help him in Ba Sing Se."

Katara folded her arms. "That was totally different. And it's not like I liked Jet because he was a thief."

"Then why _did_ you like him?"

Her face heated. "I don't know! It's not like you choose to like someone or you don't. You just like them." She willed her blush to fade. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me, Aang. And I told Zuko that under Ba Sing Se."

"But Zuko didn't do that," Aang said. "And why were you talking to him under Ba Sing Se? What were you talking about?"

She hugged her knees. "A lot of things. I was really angry. And…I was really mean."

"Is that why he didn't come with us that time?"

Her stomach flipped over. She had never considered that her actions beneath Ba Sing Se might have influenced Zuko's decision; the choice to come with Aang had seemed so clear to her that she couldn't imagine it would be difficult for anyone else. Everyone loved Aang. Everyone knew that helping the Avatar was right. It wasn't like a particularly feisty Water Tribe girl could possibly change someone's mind about something so important. And (she comforted herself) if Zuko couldn't stand her temper than he had no business staying with Aang -- they faced down worse threats than an angry waterbender every day. Not _much_ worse, of course, but worse. "I don't know," she said. "You would have to ask Zuko. But I'll bet even he doesn't really know. He was confused."

"He didn't _look_ confused."

Again, Katara replayed the moment in her mind. Zuko's closed eyes. The way his body went perfectly still. How the scar was warm and pebbly like a lizard's skin, how there weren't even eyelashes there any longer. "I offered to heal his scar," she said. "I offered to use the water from the Spirit Oasis."

Aang made a little noise like he'd just stepped on the sharp edge of a knife. "You mean the water you used to heal me?"

"That's right. I was thinking of using it, and then you came." She smiled. "So it's a good thing, right? Because if I had used it on Zuko, who knows what might have happened?" She turned to Aang. "Even Zuko agrees with me. He says he's happy I didn't try to heal him, because it means you were okay."

Aang rubbed the back of his head. "He said that?"

"Of course. He wants you to be strong." She inched closer. "And Zuko doesn't want to come with me on the mission, either. He wants to stay here with you. He's only going because he lost our fight."

"No," Aang said, shaking his head. "He knows what'll happen to you if he doesn't go."

"Hey, have a little confidence, Aang. I'm pretty tough. I _am_ the Avatar's waterbending teacher."

"Stop joking, Katara! This is really serious!" He made fists. "Zuko stood up to the Fire Lord when I was just chasing Azula. He shot lightning at him! And he faced down the dragons with me, and he rescued me from Zhao _without bending_." His eyes had gone wide, imploring. "If Zuko's scared, then things are really, really bad."

Katara hoped that Aang did not notice her goosebumps. She swallowed. "He stood up to the Fire Lord by himself," she said. "Imagine what he could do with me there!"

"You don't get it!" Aang stood up. His hands fluttered through the air; she remembered his sleepless hysteria before the eclipse. "They're going to throw you in prison! You're going to wind up like Hama, or worse!"

Katara firmed her lips. "I am _not_ going to wind up like Hama," she said. She squared her shoulders. "And if they throw me in prison, I'll just do exactly what I did the last time. I'll help free the prisoners."

Aang pointed at her. "That was different! I was there with you!" He licked his lips. "Is this because your dad said they would use the weapon on the Water Tribe? Because-"

"Any weapon at all is dangerous in Fire Nation hands, Aang, no matter who it's pointed at. You know that." She sighed. "We've come this far. We can't quit, now. There are people counting on us." She caught herself playing with her necklace. "The war isn't going to end when you defeat the Fire Lord, Aang."

"_If_ I defeat him."

"_When_ you defeat him." She looked up at him. "We still have to take care of Azula. And there are Fire Navy ships all over the world! Who knows what orders they've been given for the day Sozin's Comet arrives?" Her hands made fists. "You know what the Fire Nation did to the Air Nomads. If we don't stop them now, that could be the Water Tribe or the Earth Kingdom!"

Aang paled. He sat down slowly. He looked at the floor. It made his arrow seem too heavy for his young head to hold up. "Why does it have to be you?"

She pursed her lips. "You know why. Someone has to help Zuko with the Dai Li. They're going to question him. They might even try to erase parts of his memories, like they did with Jet."

"Give me the real reason. Why are you going with him?"

"Aang…"

"Tell me."

Katara sighed. "You have to get control of the Avatar State."

Aang shut his eyes tight. "I don't _want_ the Avatar State. I want you."

"I know that. But the rest of the world _needs_ you to defeat the Fire Lord." She searched his face. "Fire Lord Ozai is going to be incredibly powerful on the day of the comet, Aang. If you can't face him before that, then you're going to need all the help you can get."

Aang's jaw set. "You want me to let you go."

"I want you to let me help people." Her head tilted. "I guess part of me is still the Painted Lady."

Aang sighed. He sucked in his lower lip. "You were really beautiful that time," he said. His cheeks colored. "I mean, you're beautiful all the time, but…"

She smiled. "Thanks, Aang. I'm flattered."

"It's the truth." Aang sighed. "I guess that's why I was suspicious of Zuko, before. I mean, both of his eyes still work, right?"

"I guess so. But I told you. You can't help who you like and who you don't. Maybe he just doesn't like Water Tribe girls." She stuck her nose in the air. "Not everyone can have good taste."

Aang laughed. "Good one." His eyebrows rose. "I guess I can't forbid you to leave, can I?"

"Friends don't give friends orders, Aang."

His lips twitched. "Friends. Right." Her heart sank and she watched him slowly push himself to his feet. "I think I'd like to go to bed, now."

"…Okay." She stood. "Goodnight, Aang."

"Goodnight, Katara."

* * *

The tears didn't come until she was halfway up the stairs. They obscured her vision and they snagged her breathing, but she kept walking. She pushed herself along the cool dark halls with one hand on the stone. Behind those heavy doors was a whole chapter of her life that she had just said goodnight to, just put to bed, and it was made up of sunny days and water whips and little kisses and penguin-sledding. Of all the threats she had thought to protect Aang from, she had never once imagined protecting him from herself.

A dark shape appeared just ahead: Zuko. He emerged from Toph's room and paused mid-step. They stared at one another for a moment. He looked almost frightened, like he'd been caught doing something wrong and feared punishment. But then she realized she probably looked terrible, and she scrubbed at her eyes with the ball of her hand and straightened up. She stepped forward. "Is Toph okay?" she asked in a voice that sounded too thick in her own ears.

He blinked. He nodded inside the room. "She's, um, finally asleep."

Katara nodded. Her head bobbed up and down on her neck like a doll's. It felt heavy and full. Toph lay sprawled on the floor, just a blanket separating her from the stone, her other blanket kicked away. Tiny Toph snores emanated from her open mouth. Katara spoke in a whisper. "That's good. That's really good. Good job."

"…Thanks." He shifted on his feet. "I've been thinking." He swallowed. "I'll go with you. But you have to promise never to look inside my head."

"I won't." She hugged her arms. "It's not like I enjoy doing that, anyway. It doesn't feel right."

He nodded. "Right." He wove around her a little; she felt his gaze like two hot embers on her face. "Did I, um… Did I cut-"

"No. You didn't hurt me." She leaned against the door and watched Toph breathe. "I'm sorry about throwing you overboard. Not _overboard_, I guess, but you know." She made a wrist-flicking gesture to mimic the way she'd sent him flying. "I knew you'd come back. You always come back."

He leaned against the opposite doorjamb. "I guess I always do."

"Right when I least expect it, I turn around and there you are." She smiled. "It's really kind of annoying."

Toph stirred in her sleep. They stiffened. The earthbender sat up. She rubbed her eyes and scratched her scalp. The hair stuck out in all directions. "I had a funny dream."

They entered the room, dislodged from the door like two stones suddenly freed by a gush of water. Katara knelt down. "What was it, Toph?"

"It was about a four hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."

Zuko's good eyebrow arched. He crouched. "That's…very detailed."

"What are you two doing here?"

Their eyes met. "We were trying to figure out ways to stop your snoring," Katara said.

"Nice try, Sweetness." Toph lay down. "How come you were crying? Is that Sparky's fault?"

Katara wiped her eyes. "No. I just…" She blinked hard. "I just had a talk with Aang."

"He took it pretty hard, didn't he?" Toph's eyes closed. "The part about you not liking him back, I mean." Katara blushed and avoided Zuko's eyes. Toph yawned. "You don't have to tell me. I can guess." She reached and Zuko grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over her. "Thanks, Sparky." She yawned again, and when she spoke this time her voice was lazier, slower. "You're going to be fine, Katara. Sparky's going to take care of you while you're gone."

"That's right," Zuko said. He tucked the blanket up under her chin. "I won't let anything happen."

"You better watch out…" Toph frowned. Her voice had grown even smaller, sleepier. "She'll go through your stuff…tell you she's cleaning…total mom…"

"I'll be good, Toph," Katara said. "I'll really try hard."

"No dice games," Toph murmured. "All cheaters…"

"No gambling," Zuko said. "I promise."

"And Azula…" Toph frowned in her sleep. "Azula always lies…"

"I know, Champ. Go to sleep."

"Not tired…" Toph turned on her side and drew her knees to her belly. "Resting my eyes."

Katara patted her hand. "Toph, you're blind."

"…Thought I had you…that time…" Toph surprised her and linked their fingers. "You might just make it…"

"Of course we'll make it," Zuko said. He gave his funny little smile. "We're the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady. We can take 'em."

Mention of the Painted Lady made Katara want to lie down. So she did, stretching her body along Toph's and pillowing her head on her own arm. She wriggled up close to the other girl and cuddled her. "Is this okay, Toph?"

"…Sparky'd be warmer."

Katara pinched her. Zuko looked at the floor. He sat against the wall and rested his arms on his knees. When Katara closed her eyes he was still watching the two girls. When she opened them at dawn, someone had stuffed a bolster pillow under her neck, and had pulled another blanket over her. And Zuko slept in very late.

* * *

The next three days passed far too quickly. After Iroh asked very nicely, the group permitted Akna and Xiao Zhi to return. This time they brought presents: extra food, medicine, bandages, fresh soap and needles and thread, and good blankets to replace the torn ones. They also brought better training. Akna taught Katara a variety of new techniques that left her head throbbing but which did the job of incapacitating an enemy a lot faster, like a bloodbending sleeper hold and a way of freezing the circulation to someone's arms so they couldn't bend. (The technique worked equally well on the legs; Katara derived a rather wicked pleasure from making Akna fall down.) She continued practicing on herself, as well, using the meditation Akna taught her. Xiao Zhi trained Zuko and Katara mercilessly; under her instruction Katara learned how to make a lightning-enhanced penta-pus, then something Xiao Zhi called the spider's web, then a ball of yarn form that crackled with light and heat. Zuko couldn't manage the lightning more than a few times in an afternoon without hurting himself; he sucked his fingers when he thought no one was watching.

"It would be wise to hide these techniques while you are in the palace," Iroh said. "Use them only when absolutely necessary. The less Azula and my brother know about your skills, the better."

Iroh drilled them on the location of the palace's secret passages: the one between the Fire Lord and Fire Lady's private chambers; the path from the Fire Lord's chamber to the palace vault; the secondary entrance from the throne room; the route through the Dragonbone Catacombs to the secret river under the palace. "No matter where the Mechanist is being held, it is likely that a copy of the battle plans, including the plans for the weapon, is in either my brother or Princess Azula's possession," Iroh told them over dinner. "But where they would keep it is tricky. My brother is a fundamentally lazy man -- he delegates authority to others because it makes him feel more powerful. This is why it was so easy for Azula to deceive him about the Avatar. He may have stashed the plans in his office and forgotten them. Or he may have left them in his bedroom, under the pillow!"

Katara and Zuko shuddered. Iroh laughed to himself, then his face assumed a deadly seriousness. "In truth, my brother has probably hidden the plans in the palace vault. In order to enter it, you will have to bend the lightning very carefully. Your stormbending skills will come in handy. In fact, the vault entrance is one reason we trained you in this technique."

_So that was it. _Katara frowned. "Just so we could rob a vault?"

"And so that you could destroy anything in your path," Iroh said. "Together, you are both better at bending lightning than Azula." He sighed. "Let us hope that the plans are in the vault, and not with her."

"Ozai knows that Azula lied to him, now," Zuko said. "Do you think he'll still trust her?"

"Azula can be very persuasive, my nephew," Iroh said, arching one bushy eyebrow. "And my brother has less experience with her treachery than either you or I."

"Where would Azula hide the plans?" Katara asked. She turned to Zuko. "You're her brother. Where does she keep her stuff?"

Zuko frowned. "I don't know. I never went through her things."

Sokka sat up. He gestured with his boomerang. "What kind of a brother are you? You must have done _some_ snooping, once upon a time!"

Zuko shook his head. "Azula keeps things neat. She'd know if I ever touched anything." He sighed. "If we go into her room, we'll have to put everything back just the way it was."

Toph snorted. "Good luck. Don't take Katara with you_._"

"Toph!"

"It's true! You're about as sneaky as a Ba Sing Se transit train!"

"I can be sneaky! I was sneaky when I became the Painted Lady! And I was sneaky when I took that waterbending scroll!"

"Oh yes, that was crafty," Iroh said. "You must have very light fingers."

"What waterbending scroll?" Toph asked.

"Yes, Katara, what waterbending scroll?" her father wanted to know.

"The one she stole from some pirates," Zuko said. When she glared ice-daggers at him, he quickly changed his tone. "I mean, she really needed it. She could barely do a water whip."

_"Zuko!"_

"It's true! I saw you!"

Her jaw dropped. She felt like hitting him, suddenly -- not with water but with her bare hand. "You were _watching_ me?"

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Sokka said, examining his nails. "Not creepy at all…"

"How do you think I found you? With my nose?"

"No, that would be the xirxiu," Katara said.

Iroh purred. "Ah. Jun. Those were the days."

Toph turned to Aang. "You guys were a total mess before I showed up, weren't you?"

* * *

Finally, the night came when it was time to leave. All preparation past that point would have been repetition. Iroh played the suungi horn and Katara made their favorite dishes (Aang even got his own special egg custard tart). She checked and re-checked her bag. Iroh said they wouldn't need much, just the basics, but she found herself obsessing over how much soap she might need, how much money, how much rations. She folded and re-folded her blue dress until the creases appeared straight and permanent. Fire Nation clothes were the best for this situation, but she kept her necklace. She adjusted her hair. Blew out the lamp. Left the room.

In the kitchen, The Duke and Teo and Haru presented her with a tiny scroll. "Peanut sauce?" she asked, unrolling what seemed to be a recipe.

"Explosive peanut sauce," Teo said.

"We wanted you to be able to make a bomb from things you might find at the palace," Haru said. He shrugged. "You never know."

"It was my idea," The Duke said, sniffling. "Jet says… Jet _said_ that you've gotta work with what you have."

She smiled. "That's a great idea," she said. "Thank you very much. All of you." She hugged all of them in turn.

Next it was Akna's turn. She hugged Katara and said: "Your father and I have a bet going that you'll have this all finished in less than a week. So after the third day, when you have the plans, take a nice vacation. I want to win the pool."

Despite herself, Katara laughed. _Four days. Yeah, right._ She ignored the icy lump of dread slowly hardening in her stomach. "I'll do my best," she said. She smiled tightly. "Take care of my dad."

"You know I will."

Xiao Zhi came next. "You are a true daughter of the Water Tribe," she said, inhaling from her pipe. "Water is the element of change. When you encounter an obstacle, flow around it. And remember that sometimes a trickle is just as effective as a tidal wave." She poked Katara in the chest with her pipe. Katara felt the hot metal sear her through her dress for just a moment. "Don't be afraid of the storm inside you," Xiao Zhi said, narrowing her pale eyes. "Your anger is a gift. Hold onto it. It might give you the strength to do what's necessary when the time comes."

Katara swallowed. "Um, thanks."

Xiao Zhi smiled. "There's no one better for this mission than you two. Remember that."

"We will," Zuko said.

"And you," Xiao Zhi said, addressing him. "Keep that lightning away from your heart."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't _ma'am_ me. Get going." Xiao Zhi turned and walked away. "And don't screw up. I'd hate to have to send my sourpuss brother after you two."

Zuko frowned, then turned to the others. "I guess this is-"

"Need a lift?" Aang and Appa's shapes blotted out the night sky. The bison was stripped of his armor -- Aang meant for them all to go together. He pursed his lips. "The sooner you get there, the faster you come back."

"That's right," Hakoda said. "Let's go." And he gave her a hand up toward the saddle.

Aang climbed into the clouds and during their ride Katara focused on the anonymity of those ghostly white shapes. Up here they could be clouds over any country, not the Fire Nation or the South Pole but anywhere, because clouds were always moving and they could wind up as a rainstorm or a sunshower for anyone. That's why the Air Nomads had homes in every corner of the world, she supposed. They were like the clouds. They blew with the wind. They belonged everywhere, and they belonged nowhere. And now they were gone.

_Not this time. Not ever again. _She watched Aang churning the clouds around them as Appa dipped and soared. Wind lifted her hair. Up here, the air no longer smelled like summer. _Is this the last time I'm going to sit in this saddle? Is this the last time I see the stars so close? _

"We've gone far enough," Iroh said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked. "Because we could get closer…"

"Any closer and they might notice us," Iroh said. "Your sister and my nephew have to go the rest of the way on their own."

Hakoda took a deep breath. He reached for Katara's hand. "You be careful," he said. His eyes glimmered with unshed tears and his hands seemed dry and too old where they gripped hers. "Don't let your temper get away from you. Be nice, but don't be afraid to take out the trash if you need to."

Katara bit her lip. "Dad…"

He hugged her. "You're the best part of me," he said into her hair. "Everything I've ever done pales in comparison to helping bring you into this world."

She wiped her eyes. "I'm… I'm really lucky you're my dad."

He kissed her forehead. "Thanks for saying so." Hakoda looked at Zuko. "You're carrying half my heart, son," he said. "Don't break it."

Zuko bowed. "Yes, sir."

"And…keep your wrists loose when you work those swords. Don't lock your elbows."

Zuko nodded. "Right. Thank you."

Iroh touched her shoulder. His eyes slid over to Zuko and his voice lowered. "Zuko needs time," the old general said. "My nephew like a fine bottle of ryu-nyuu. He needs just the right amount of fermentation. Then when you open him up, he's exactly what's called for!" Iroh tucked a loop of hair against her head. "He's different now, and so are you. He isn't the boy you knew before, and you aren't the pretty little girl standing on a glacier." His eyebrows rose. "If anything, you're even prettier!"

Katara's ears burned. From behind her, Zuko said: "Uncle, you're embarrassing her…"

"Yeah, Pops, you're laying it on a little thick," Toph said. She scrubbed her eyes. "Leave some for the rest of us, you know?"

Iroh smiled. "You are right as usual, Miss Toph." He looked to Zuko. "Try not to burn the tea. And remember to get plenty of rest. A man needs his rest."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Uncle…" He wrapped his arms around the old man. "I'm coming right back," he said.

Iroh suddenly returned the embrace. Katara saw the muscles bulge inside his arms. "Be careful, my son," he said. "Be good. And remember who you are."

"I will." He pulled away. "That reminds me." He reached into his sash and pulled out something that gleamed gold in the starlight. He took hold of Toph's hand and placed it there. Katara saw what seemed to be a very antiquated Fire Nation crown. Zuko folded Toph's little fingers over it and knelt in front of her. He swayed with Appa's movements. "This is a relic of the Fire Nation," he said. "Fire Lord Sozin wore this crown, and he gave it to Avatar Roku before his training began. I want you to h… I want you to hold onto it. Until I get back."

Tears rolled down Toph's pale cheeks. "Sparky…I can't…"

"They'll take it away from me at the palace," Zuko said. "This way I know where it is. And you can give it back to me later."

She shook her head furiously. "No. I don't want to. I don't want to take it. I don't want you to…"

Zuko blinked hard and bit his lip. When he spoke his voice came out rough. "Hey. Come on. Who's the Earth Rumble Champ?"

"…I am."

"Who's the Blind Bandit?"

"…Me."

"Who's going to take care of the only family I've got?" Toph sniffled and nodded. Zuko rested a hand on her head. "Now don't make trouble for Uncle Iroh," he said. "And wash your feet. And don't eat anything weird." He inched in closer, held her hand very tight. "And if you feel Azula close by, you run the other way. Do you hear me?" His voice shook and his fingers whitened on her hair. "You _run the other way._"

"Sparky…" Toph sort of sagged into him and he held her.

"Just like a badgermole," he said. "Just go underground where they can't get you."

"I'm still mad about my feet," Toph said through tears. "I'm still mad and I'm going to make you pay me back…"

"I know. I know. I'll come right back and I'll carry you around all the time."

Sokka crawled over to them and he gently pried Toph from Zuko's arms. Zuko smoothed her hair down at she left; Sokka held her in his lap. He took a deep breath. "So. This is awkward."

Zuko almost laughed. "I'll take care of her."

"Not a scratch. I mean it, Zuko. Not a scratch."

"Not a scratch."

"Because I'm going to work on my swordsmanship and if I find out otherwise-"

"I know."

Sokka nodded. He turned to Katara. "And you. I love you, but quit being such a pain. It'll only make Azula and Ozai angrier, and then you'll have real problems."

Katara nodded. "You too. Don't screw things up with Suki."

"Oh, he won't," Suki said. "I'll make sure." The Kyoshi warrior turned to Zuko. "And hey, you. If you see Azula, tell her I said hi."

Zuko nodded. "I never apologized to you about your village-"

"Oh, Sparky. Like you and your little ponytail could ever keep Kyoshi down." She waved him off. "You just go there and give that smug little brat what she deserves. Then we'll be even."

"Right." Zuko shouldered his swords and his bag. He flipped his hood up. Together, they moved toward Aang. After a moment, he stopped churning the clouds and stared down at them. Zuko knelt before him, palms flat on the saddle. "Please don't do this," he said in a low voice. "Please don't…. Don't send me away."

Aang's eyes welled with tears. "I'm not banishing you, Zuko."

"I finally found you-"

"And you'll find me again." Aang smiled. "No matter where I go, no matter how far or how long it takes, you always find me."

Zuko's face rose. Katara saw tears from his good eye. "That's right," he said in a trembling voice. "No matter how long or how far."

"Zuko never gives up," Aang said.

"Not without a fight," Zuko said. And then his good eye went wide as Aang crashed into him, wrapped his lean little arms around him and squeezed. And he squeezed back.

"I need the Blue Spirit," Aang said fiercely. "You rescued me from Zhao and you carried me through a blizzard and you helped me through all those traps and I need you to do it again for Katara."

"I will," Zuko said. "I won't fail you."

Over Zuko's shoulder, Aang turned to Katara. He looked very young, suddenly, like he had when they lost Appa, just before the tears came in earnest. "I can't lose anybody else-"

Katara wrapped her arms around both of them. "You won't," she said. "None of us will. It's…" She could barely breathe. "It's going to be okay… It's only for a little while…" A sob came up in her throat and she felt Sokka's arms around her and Aang, then Toph's around her and Zuko. They formed a little huddle of crying people.

"I want to thank you," Zuko said. "You let me join you and-"

"Oh, just shut up and hold hands, Zuko," Sokka said.

"We're such wusses," Toph said. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "We can't save the world if we keep on acting like such crybabies."

"I love you," Katara said. "I love all of you, and…"

"Oh, sis, please don't start," Sokka said, swallowing. "I can't handle it if you start…"

"We'll all be together again," Aang said. "I feel it."

"Me too," said Zuko.

"Me three," said Toph.

"You're right," Katara said. "We're going to make it." And in the moment she stood she felt strong, but when she turned to see two ropes hanging off Appa's saddle and through the clouds to the unknown below, something inside her trembled and the real tears came and she said: "I can't." The cold fear she had held back until now took over her veins and her limbs went to jelly and her skin blossomed with goosebumps. She imagined dry prison cells and Dai Li gloves and Azula's smile. The threat became real for the first time. "I can't do it. This was a stupid idea. I can't just leave you. This is wrong."

"No, it's not," Zuko said, behind her. He stood. "This is the right thing to do. And we both know I've had trouble doing the right thing, before." He moved closer. "I need your help."

Her vision blurred. "I can't…"

"That's a lie." They stared at the ropes. Wind whipped her tears away. "I know you. And I know what you can do." And he picked up one rope. "You can do this." He swung out over Appa's saddle, standing carefully on his toes. "Come on."

Katara shook her head. Her own rope now seemed impossibly far away. Her hand would not reach it. She could only stand in place. But then Zuko held out his hand and said: "Hold tight."

And this was easier, though she didn't know why. His grip seemed certain and suddenly standing up wasn't so hard. Her arms went up around his shoulders and his went around her. Under her ear, his heart jumped like a wild rabbaroo. He was scared. But he was doing this anyway. And that was enough. "Wish us luck," Zuko said, and he let go.

The descent was very quick, and they only stumbled a little when they hit the ground. She felt Zuko tug the rope twice. Something the shadows moved and suddenly the Appa-sized cloud was gone, just a faint groan on the wind. They were alone with their task. And for a long time they just stood there, remembering how to breathe, wiping their tears on the other person's shirt or hair, clinging to the last piece of home and everything that mattered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: This chapter is meant to be a breather between the events of the Western Air Temple and the search for the weapon. I had a great time writing this chapter, as it is almost entirely Fire Nation culture. More will happen next time, I swear. In the meantime, enjoy tea and shipping.**

**Thanks: Without the screencaps from the people at Avatar Wiki, I would have very little sense of the capitol layout. Thank you! Also, Malena-sama provided me with fresh art, and you can see it by clicking on my profile. And last but not least, OrePookPook drew Katara's new threads, and you can see them by clicking the link in my profile.**

* * *

It is the stillest words that bring on the storm. Thoughts that come on doves' feet guide the world. _--Friedrich Nietzsche_

* * *

They walked in silence for a few hours. Zuko had a tendency to get a little ahead of her; his legs were longer and he seemed to be on the lookout for something. But they found only raccoon-toads croaking and chirping away into the night. Katara guessed it was mating season -- the bull-toads seemed very insistent about the quality of their lily pads. Neither of them had much to say, except the first time Katara saw dancing spots of greenish light winking in and out of her vision and brought their trek to a standstill just staring at them.

"Those are fireflies," Zuko said. "They only come out in the summer."

"Do they bite?"

"No, they don't bite, they just…glow." He frowned. "You've never seen them?"

"The South Pole doesn't really have a lot of bugs."

He nodded. He seemed to consider something for a moment, then he held up his palm. A small ball of flame appeared there. The fireflies gathered around it, darting in and around the fire like a crowd of stars surrounding a sun, like the charts in Wan Shi Tong's library said they did. "Come see."

Cautiously -- _why am I worried about scaring bugs? --_ Katara approached the little team of fireflies zooming around Zuko's hand. Their glowing bodies bumped into each other. Katara giggled. She found herself leaning down, eyebrows perilously close to the flame. The little humming, sparking bugs reminded her of something: "The Cave of Two Lovers!"

Zuko's fire snuffed out. "What?"

Now they stood in the dark, the only light from the stars and the fireflies. "We got lost in this tunnel on the way to Omashu," she said. "These traveling musicians told us about this special cave made by Oma and Shu so they could be together and they said all we had to do was trust in love and-"

"What does this have to do with the fireflies?"

"I was getting to that! Our torch went out and suddenly these crystals started glowing in the dark."

"…Like Ba Sing Se?"

Katara nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess so." She frowned. A cool breeze drifted over the pond to their right. Lemur-tail reeds rustled together. "That seems like such a long time ago. It was before we even met Toph."

Zuko nodded. A shadow of pain drifted across his face for just a moment. Then his good eyebrow furrowed. "You took directions from a group of musicians who told you to trust in love?"

Katara threw her hands in the air and pushed past him. "Only because Fire Nation tanks were chasing us!"

A moment later, he followed.

* * *

Near dawn, their steady northwesterly walk brought the smokestacks of the harbor town into view. From then it was easy: Zuko seemed to know where he was going and he quickened the pace until the harbor lay beneath them and the grass at their feet seemed to be the last piece of greenery for miles. The plaza's white stone still bore a few battle scars from the Day of Black Sun: busted turrets, gaps in the stone. Katara tried to count the boats in the harbor but it was still too dark. "It looks so different with all the people," Katara said. She sat down and hugged her knees. Her feet thanked her. "I guess we should have known something was wrong when there weren't any boats docked down there."

Zuko said nothing, merely stared down at the harbor. He sighed. "I've been thinking." He clenched and unclenched his hands, shifted on his feet. "Ozai told me my mother was alive. Or that she could be. If he asks you, tell him I'm looking for her. Tell him I needed money to get passage on a ship and the only thing I knew how to do was make tea."

"But you _don't_ know how to make tea," Katara said. "And if your dad is questioning me, I think I'll have bigger things to worry about."

"But Uncle Iroh's story doesn't make any sense," Zuko said. "If Aang had b… If Aang wanted me to leave, I would go looking for her. The only reason I would have to stay in the Fire Nation is to make enough money to travel."

"Making tea." She arched an eyebrow. "And what am I doing in this plan?"

"What plan?"

"The fake one? Where you're finding your mom?"

Zuko blinked. "You're… I don't know. What are you doing?"

"I'm…" Katara thought. If she weren't with Aang and the others, where would she be? What would she do? "I'm trying to get home," she said. "It's a long way to the South Pole without a flying bison, so I guess I'd need to work my way there, too."

"So we're both working. Together."

Katara grimaced. "Okay, okay, so it's not the best lie ever, but not being good at lying isn't exactly a bad thing." She kicked off her shoes, summoned her water, and wrapped it around her feet. Cool healing energy coated them. She sighed. "Thank goodness…"

Zuko shifted again. "We should get moving."

"I know, I know, my feet just hurt."

"They'll let us sleep once we get there."

"Says who?"

"Says me. Come on."

Rolling her eyes, Katara corked her bending water in her double waterskins and wearily rose to her feet. Zuko resumed his position in the lead. Behind him, she crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. When he turned around, she smiled brightly and said: "Lead on!"

* * *

The sun steadily climbed higher as they threaded their way past factories and factory neighborhoods. Zuko kept them away from major thoroughfares where men and women walked to work; he took alleys and more than once she suspected he was lost. But as they walked the smell of the harbor grew stronger and the wind from the water grew chillier; she heard toucan-puffs. They arrived at a red arch with a single sign that featured an oyster opened to display its pearl. It was sort of cute, like an open laughing mouth. The sign creaked in the breeze. Zuko stood under it and winced. "We're here."

He led them into what seemed like an ordinary -- if shabby -- domestic neighborhood. Katara saw a lot of little shops with perfectly ordinary lanais and lanterns, and what seemed to be apartments above them. Futons hung over railings. She watched women pinning up their washing on the lines between buildings. It reminded her of the Third Tier of Ba Sing Se -- not great, but functional. "I thought you said this was a wealthy neighborhood."

"I-"

"Hey!" A man appeared in the middle of the road. He was a little bit pudgy and he seemed to have trouble walking. His feet moved in one direction, but he moved in another. He raised a shaking finger at Zuko. "Aren't you-"

"No," Zuko said, and kept walking. A moment later, Katara remembered to follow him.

"Was that guy…_drunk?_" She said it in a whisper.

"Most likely."

"But… It's the _morning._"

"Yes. Well." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Welcome to the Oyster District."

Finding the Blue Sparrowkeet didn't take them long. It was a small, three-storey stucco building that sat across the road from a much larger building called The Chimneystack that appeared to be closed. (Actually, most everything seemed to be closed. Katara saw one greengrocer putting up his awning, but aside from him the whole district seemed to be asleep.) Zuko informed her that it was the Dai Li bathhouse, mentioned something about it being for men only (she had a hard time believing that one) and then turned to the teahouse itself. The Blue Sparrowkeet had a sign with its eponymous bird carved across the surface with an unlit red lantern hanging beneath it, and a wraparound lanai of dark wood. Like the other storefronts it seemed to be closed.

"What's wrong with this town?" Katara asked. She went to the window and peered inside. It was dark and still. Someone had placed the chairs seat seat-down on the tables so their legs poked up into the air. Dust motes drifted in a slanting bar of morning sunlight. She curled her fingers through the holes in the window's steel screen. "Nothing's open. I thought firebenders rose with the sun! Are these people just lazy?"

"The district doesn't, um, really get moving until the evening," Zuko said. "That's when the factory whistle blows."

"How come-"

"Hey! You there! We're closed!"

They turned to see a very tiny old man hustling up road, two big sacks on either arm. He was completely bald aside from a bizarre crop of white hair growing out from behind his ears that reminded Katara of Momo. He quickened his pace and hurried up to the lanai. "Didn't you hear me? We're-" He stopped short as Zuko turned to him. His white eyebrows flew high into his wrinkled, sunspotted forehead. "Oh! You're-"

"Lee," Zuko said. "Lee and Kuma."

Katara resisted the urge to kick him. She was perfectly capable of choosing her own fake name, thank you very much, and she happened to like Sapphire Fire. Where did he get off doing all their sneaky spy stuff without her? "Right," the old man said. "Lee and Kuma. Well, Lee and Kuma, please come inside." He retrieved a long key from his pocket and used it to open the door. "Yes, yes, come in, you must be very tired, come in…" They followed him inside. The old man shut the door behind them, squinted out the window, dropped his bags, and bowed low before Zuko.

Zuko took a step back. "You don't have to do that."

Smiling, the old man rose slowly and said: "Well, it's not every day I have a member of the royal family in my teahouse. At least, not since your uncle was last here." He clapped his hands and turned to Katara. "And you! My brothers told me about you!"

"Your brothers?"

"Xu, Dock, and Bushi! They told me all about you!"

She frowned. Where had she heard those names before? The old man mimed taking off a hat. Katara's palm met her forehead. "Great…"

"You did such good work as the Painted Lady! I'm very happy to have you here!" He made a little bow. "My name is Rari. Let me show you to your rooms. And you must be hungry! I'll have to…" Rari scurried over to some stairs and hurried up them. He had the same spry energy as his insane trinity of brothers. They followed his bandy legs up two flights of stairs to the third floor of the building. Rari handed Zuko a key. "I'm sorry there's just one for the two of you, but the spare is with me," he said. "Don't lock each other out!"

Zuko ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Can we just rest, now?"

"Oh, of course! You should find everything you need inside. The washroom is at the end of the hall, over there." Rari pointed. "I'll wake you up for work if the afternoon whistle doesn't!"

"Don't we need some kind of training?" Katara asked.

"All in good time!" Rari started down the stairs. "First, some tea! And maybe some fruit! And oh, some nice dumplings!"

Katara and Zuko leaned over the railing and watched him descend the stairs back to his shop. Rari quickly left their view as he headed back toward what must have been the kitchen area. "I have a bad feeling about this," Zuko said.

* * *

Katara had lived in a lot of different places since joining Aang. She had slept on the back of a flying bison, been on a prison ship, kept a whole First Tier house in Ba Sing Se mostly to herself, and single-handedly organized an upside-down Air temple. A run-down little apartment in the Fire Nation capitol's laziest district shouldn't have bothered her. But it did.

"Why is there only one room?" she asked, pointing at the bedroom. Someone had left the door a little bit open and pulled down gauzy mosquito netting around a broad futon. A little vase of orchids sat on a low table beside it.

"Because my uncle has a stupid sense of humor." Zuko shook his head and slammed open the linen closet. He began pulling out a futon and blankets. "It doesn't matter. I'll sleep in here." He threw his futon on the floor and unfolded a blanket across it.

"Oh. Thanks." Katara busied herself drawing shutters over the two large windows in the sitting room. One looked out onto the street; the other faced a courtyard that Rari had devoted to growing fruit and vegetables. From here, she could see into the back gardens and windows of three other buildings. Nothing stirred. She closed the shutters and brought the whole room into dimness. When she turned Zuko was looking at her like he expected her to say something. "So… We made it."

"Right."

"And now we're roommates." Saying the words failed to achieve the desired effect. She had hoped that by naming the source of her discomfort it would simply evaporate, but she still felt a great chasm of awkwardness spreading between them. _Why in the world did you agree to this? This is the stupidest plan in the history of stupid plans! Share an apartment with the guy who tied you to a tree? Get captured by the Dai Li and kiss up to Crazy and her creepy friends? Steal from the Fire Lord's personal vault? Have you lost your mind? _She pointed at the bedroom and put on her best smile. "Are you sure you don't want it? We could do Rock, Pa-"

"You can have it."

"Oh. Well. Thanks again." She looked into the bedroom. She wanted to sleep, but there was something she had to do first. "Um, I'll just be…" She jerked a thumb toward the hall and hated herself for blushing. "If you'll excuse me."

Zuko said nothing. When she finished up in the washroom -- where even the water from the fish-mouthed faucet smelled vaguely volcanic and sulfurous -- he was already on his futon, boots off, lying on his side. He seemed completely and utterly asleep. This was a comfort, because it meant that when she shut the door and crawled onto her strange bed in this strange part of an even stranger country, he didn't hear her start crying.

* * *

She woke to the sound of thunder. For a moment Katara forgot where she was -- the mosquito netting was more than a little spooky. But then she smelled orchids and seawater and coal smoke and remembered. Parting the net, she slid off the futon and opened the shutters on her single window. She guessed it to be afternoon, but the storm made it difficult to tell -- the sky had gone a strange and lively purple. What few people dotted the streets hurried from place to place with paper-and-reed umbrellas shielding their faces. The wind blew and rain hit her in the face. She bent it away and stepped back from the window, closed the shutters. Sliding her door open, she found an empty sitting room.

She frowned. Opening the linen closet, she found Zuko's futon neatly rolled up with the blanket folded on top. Crossing to the front door, she pulled it open and left it propped. Nothing. "Hello?" Her voice sounded a lot smaller than she wanted it to be. _"Hello?"_ No answer. Not even Rari seemed to be in attendance. The teashop remained dark. When she checked for light under the washroom door, she saw none. She was alone.

_When in doubt, explore._ She stood a little straighter and made her way down the stairs. The second floor had a door much like the one to their apartment -- oh, _that_ was an odd phrase for her mind to turn over, _their apartment -- _and when she knocked no answer came. Sighing, she turned away and continued down to the teashop. She wound her way past the little tables and back toward the kitchen. Aside from the odd row of wall-mounted hourglasses, the kitchen seemed perfectly normal. Rari had kindly labeled everything -- the big canisters of various teas, flour, rice, red beans, and sugar. Katara opened each of the kitchen's drawers: mortars and pestles, tableware, rolling pins, knives, extra dishes. It seemed Rari also liked to bake -- Katara saw a basket of fresh speckled eggs near an impressive row of outsized cast-iron teapots. She picked an egg up-

-and almost fumbled it when someone pounded at the door. "Open up!"

Swallowing, Katara replaced the egg and made her way to the front room. Through the window, she saw a man and woman in Fire Nation militia gear. _It's a trap! That's why they abandoned you!_ She immediately dropped to the floor. Where was the nearest exit? How would she get out of town? Why was she stupid enough to go along with this plan in the first place? The pounding sounded again. "We just want somewhere to dry off!"

"I'm sorry," she said from the floor. "We're closed."

"Come on, just give us some tea!"

"No!"

"I told you it was closed," the female officer said. This sounded like a frequent conversation between the two of them. "The lantern's not lit."

"But it's chilly…"

"Why don't you whine about it some more and see what happens?"

Katara heard their footsteps creak across the lanai. She poked her head up and watched the officers leave. She waited a full three breaths before standing up. Exhaling, she hurried back up the stairs. From the apartment, she could survey both sides of the building without too much trouble. Once inside, she shut the door, opened the shutters, and moved from side to side checking for the officers or any other sign of danger. Gradually, the number of passersby increased. Rain continued sluicing down; she wondered where she would go if she had to leave. Was this really a trap? Why else would they have left her behind like this? Would she be better off running away now? _No. Wait until the streets are more crowded, then you can just disappear._

The clouds thickened and the room darkened. Summer made the day long but the storm plunged it into an early twilight. She hunted for spark-rocks to light the lamps, found none. Soon lightning was the only real light, and thunder the only sound aside from the steady dance of rain and her own breathing. And it just barely covered the sound of footsteps on the stairs, so she almost didn't know to uncork her waterskins until the door squealed open and a dark shape filled the threshold. She aimed her water whip straight for its head and watched it duck before throwing its hood off.

Zuko. "It's me! It's me!"

She stood up. "Where were you? Where did you go?"

"Well, why was this door unlocked? Anybody could have gotten in! And why are you sitting alone in the dark?"

"There aren't any spark-rocks! Not all of us are firebenders, you know!"

She heard a rather annoyed growl and watched a flurry of sparks fly around her to light the lamps. Their sudden glow exposed Zuko, soaked with rain, carrying his bag. Water dripped off him and pattered on the floor. He still held his key in one fist. Katara swallowed. "You're dripping everywhere." She bent the water free of him and into a potted plant. "There."

He shut the door. She watched him turn one bolt, then another a little higher up. "You didn't lock the door."

"I know. I forgot. I was a little distracted, what with everyone _leaving me_ here." She folded her arms. "And I had to deal with the militia, thank you very much, so there you go."

"What did they want?"

She looked away. "Tea."

Zuko snorted. He pulled off his boots and entered the room. Katara backed away. Zuko gave her an odd look and hung his cloak on a hook. Katara hugged her arms. "Where did you go?"

Zuko held up the sack. "Food." He reached inside and pulled out steaming packets of something that smelled spicy. They came wrapped in broad green leaves tied with twine. He held one out. "You were asleep…"

Her embarrassment knew no bounds. She took the little package. It was still warm. "Thank you." She bit her lip. "You really didn't have to buy me dinner…"

Zuko stiffened. He looked out the window. "I wasn't buying _you_ dinner, I was buying _us_ dinner."

"Right. Us."

"And I'm not going to just leave you." He turned to her. "I know you think I'm no good, but if this is going to work you have to trust me."

"I know. I'm sorry." She tried for a smile. "There. I almost never say it. Are you happy?"

Zuko opened his mouth to say something when an explosion interrupted him. His good eye popped open and he waved one hand; the lamps immediately snuffed out. "Get down!" They both went flat to the floor. "Don't move," he said. Katara watched him elbow-crawl to the window. He looked a bit like those stealthy little pygmy pumas in Ba Sing Se. Very slowly, he raised himself to the window as another explosion sounded. To her bewilderment, he sighed and stood up. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, just a few bombs going off," Katara said, rolling her eyes. "What's going on?"

"A wedding." He turned away and re-lit the lamps. Frowning, Katara stood up and brushed herself off. She went to the window. Out on the street, she saw a slow procession of brightly-dressed, soaked people cowering under umbrellas. One of them, a man, sat on a palanquin. It rocked dangerously from side to side as the carriers labored to slog through the mud. Her fingers curled around the grate and she tried to get a better look. One of the procession bent fire into a little stick of firecrackers -- they fizzled out miserably in the rain. The others around him tried to make up for the lack of noise by clashing their cymbals and banging their drums.

"How come there's a parade?"

Zuko moved to stand beside her. He peeled a yuzu with his knife. "It's tradition," he said. "The groom goes to the bride's house and brings her back to his."

"So that's the groom in there?" She pointed.

Zuko nodded. "That's him." He left yuzu peel on the windowsill. Her mouth watered at the clean, tart smell. Zuko pointed with his knife as the procession pulled up to the Chimneystack. "He must be marrying the bathhouse master's daughter."

Katara grinned. "I bet they've known each other since they were really little and they were childhood sweethearts and everything."

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable. "I suppose that's possible…"

"Sad that it has to be raining, though," Katara said. "Her dress will get ruined."

"Rain is lucky for weddings," Zuko said. "It means a big number of…crops."

Katara scowled. "Are you sure you don't mean babies?"

He colored. "Maybe…"

"I delivered a baby, once. Sokka came in and saw everything and fainted." She smiled. How was it possible for her to miss Sokka already? "What a wuss." The groom was exiting his palanquin. She hopped up to try and see better.

"Here," Zuko said. He pulled a cord and the grate opened; he reached out and propped it. "Just don't lean too far."

"I know, I know." Katara folded her arms and leaned forward. She noticed other people in the neighborhood doing the same. As she watched, the groom made his way under several umbrellas to the front door of the Chimneystack. Someone opened it. In the rain, she caught only fragments of the conversation. The groom seemed to be asking questions, but being refused. "What's happening?"

"He's asking for the bride, and her family is saying no." Zuko popped a yuzu slice into his mouth.

Katara whirled. "There's not going to be a wedding?"

He swallowed. "No. It's just tradition. He still has to give them some extra money. Then they'll let her go."

Her eyebrows rose. "He _pays_ for the bride?"

Zuko shrugged. "Well, around here…" He straightened up when her glare didn't falter. "It's not real money. It's special wedding money. Each coin is a different favor the groom promises to do for the bride's family."

"Oh." Katara nodded. "That doesn't sound so bad." She stood on tiptoe and watched the conversation unfold. Down below, the groom's party waited under their bright umbrellas. Something in the doorway shifted, and Katara saw a woman in a red and gold tunic step out. She wore a large headdress with two dragons entwined on it, one red, one blue. "Is that the bride?"

"That's her."

The groom's party clanged their cymbals. More firecrackers were lit; this time one of them actually went off and sent a shower of pink sparks skittering across the street. The other viewers in their apartments cheered. Something shiny fell from the windows; the others in the wedding party scattered to pick it up. "What are they throwing?"

"Money," Zuko said. "It's good luck."

"Oh, we should throw some!"

"What? Are you serious?"

"We have to! We'll be bad neighbors if we don't!"

"But we don't even live here!"

"Don't be stingy! If you don't do this now, your own wedding will go horribly wrong!" Katara's hand dove into the pocket of his tunic. She fished for coins and found some.

"Hey! Stop! That's mine!" He pointed. "She's leaving."

Diverted, Katara leaned out the window again. The bride stared up at the rain and winced. Grinning, Katara lifted one knee to the windowsill and leaned out still further. She brought her arms up in a bending posture; the rain parted like curtains and the wedding party slowly dropped their umbrellas. They opened their hands and felt no rain. The bride beamed. The groom stepped forward and lifted her in his arms; he carried her through Katara's rainless corridor under a hail of money, cheering, and fireworks toward his palanquin. Katara tried to make her bending stretch to follow them as the palanquin resumed its travels down the road. She reached, felt herself waver, sensed her knee slipping-

-and felt Zuko's arms circle her from behind. "I told you not to lean too far."

His breath on her neck gave her a tickle way at the bottom of her spine; she remembered a similar moment: the tree, the necklace, his voice. She shivered. "I don't take orders from you."

"Will you take this instead?" He dropped something in her palm. Copper pieces. "It's all we can spare. Hurry and throw it before they're all gone."

Katara nodded, leaned out -- his arms seemed to get tighter and she heard him stop breathing -- and threw the money with all her might. The coins promptly hit one of the wedding party square in the skull; he looked up at the window with a murderous glare. Katara's hands flew up. "Sorry!"

Zuko pulled her backward. "Okay, you've done enough damage."

"I just wanted to be nice!"

"I know. Let's eat." He set her down. She felt a little chilly without him there behind her. She moved to the sack and began pulling out leaf-wrapped packets. "What did you get?"

"A little of everything," he said. He sat. "There's, um, soup dumplings and coconut riceballs and dragon-heart salad…"

"Wow." Katara sat down. "You got a lot. Good work." She pointed to an unwrapped package. "What's that big one?"

Zuko gave his strange smile and cut the package with his dagger. The leaves unfolded to reveal a whole fried fish. "Ooh…" Katara rubbed her hands together. "This looks so good!"

"Is it enough?"

"Of course it's enough; don't be silly. Let me get bowls." She breezed into her bedroom and retrieved a mess kit. She handed one set of bowl and chopsticks to Zuko. He nodded toward his bag. "I have my own…"

"Yes, but _I _didn't know that when I was packing, did I?" Katara armed herself with chopsticks. "Which do I eat first...?"

"The fish," Zuko said, and dove in. They attacked the fish together. Their chopsticks made short work of the crispy skin and white flesh. Katara had it in her mouth and down her throat before the spice took over and a dry tang of warm heat snaked up from her esophagus to her tongue.

"Hot! Hot!" She waved her hand in front of her mouth. The heat only increased. She tried inhaling and exhaling quickly as her eyes watered. "My lips hurt-"

"Eat some rice!"

She grabbed. The sticky coconut provided a welcome respite from the spicy fish; the heat calmed and receded as she chewed. Her lips still stung. Katara examined her wedge-shaped rice ball. There were different kinds of rice in there; she saw purple grains and red grains and white ones. Someone had rolled the whole thing in black and white sesame seeds. _Is this all I'm going to be able to eat while I'm here?_ Carefully, she pried another wedge of fish free. This time she separated the flesh from the skin, where all the spice seemed to be. It was firm and flaky and delicious -- the way fish was meant to be.

"You know," Katara said as she swallowed, "I like dinner a lot more when I'm not making it."

"Me too," Zuko said.

Her mouth fell open. "You don't like my cooking?"

"I didn't say that! I just like Fire Nation food better-"

"Well excuse me for not learning about Fire Nation cuisine at the _South Pole!_" She gestured with her chopsticks. "And for the record, your tea is terrible, so you have no right to complain."

"It's hot leaf juice!"

"Yeah, when _you_ make it!" She picked up a dumpling and bit into it angrily. Hot, sour-smelling soup promptly squirted all over her chin. It trickled down her neck and into her dress. A laugh pushed past Zuko's lips; he pointed. She had really only heard him really laugh once, before, and this time it still had that odd ring of triumph.

He was on the floor, now. His whole body shook. "Your face…"

Katara swallowed. "You said _soup_ dumpling, not _soup-filled_ dumpling."

"A shrimp dumpling isn't called a _shrimp-filled_ dumpling."

Katara's eyebrow twitched. "I thought you meant a dumpling that _goes with_ soup."

Zuko gestured. "Do you _see_ soup, here?" He produced a kerchief. "Here, wipe it off. It's all over you."

Katara dabbed her face. "This is all your fault."

"I didn't make it explode!" He pointed. "It's, um, in your hair."

She rolled her eyes and tried to bend the soup free of the strands. It didn't turn out so well. She could still smell the sour, salty goo on her skin. "Great, now I have to wash my hair…" She stood and crossed to the window. Spying a gutter, she quickly diverted rainwater from there and into a little ball that she bent around her head. She coiled it around her hair, pulled the whole mess up and wrung it out with bending, let the water fall to the street below. Now she was refreshingly damp and clean. And Zuko was staring.

"Is something wrong?"

"No." He blinked. "Do you want your dragon-heart?"

"My what?"

"Your salad." He held up half of a small red fruit. It had been scooped empty and packed with leafy greens and chunks of red flesh.

"Well I want to at least try it." Katara crossed back to him and took the odd little salad. She smelled it and used her chopsticks to pluck out one of the fruit pieces. "Is this going to be spicy?"

"It's _fruit_."

Carefully, Katara bit down. Juice pooled in her mouth and her eyes fluttered closed. It had a taste like liquid springtime -- fresh and sharp and sweet. At last, Fire Nation food she could actually enjoy. "Finally…"

A knock sounded at the door. Zuko stood and peered through the little window in the door with his good eye. Nodding, he allowed Rari in. The old man clapped his hands together. "Well, it looks like you're all settled. I was just at the bathhouse across the way, helping the bride's family with some tea -- the poor thing was terribly nervous, and her _mother…_" His hands made a dismissive motion. "When you're ready, please come down so I can introduce you to the kitchen."

"Okay," Katara said. "We'll be right down."

"Oh, don't worry, please take your time." He disappeared.

Zuko watched him go. "It's our first day on the job; maybe we should go down now."

"Probably," Katara said. "But I really, _really_ like dragon-hearts."

* * *

Katara's job sounded easy. Listen to orders. Write orders down. Give them to Zuko. Deliver orders. Leave the money to Rari -- she knew nothing about Fire Nation money. "Are you sure he should be in charge of the tea?" Katara asked. "He's um, kind of-"

"Oh, have no fear," Rari said. "His uncle warned me. And I have set up a rather elegant countermeasure, if I do say so myself." He pointed above the teapots to a series of hourglasses of varying size. "The tea is allowed to steep only for as long as it takes for the corresponding hourglass to empty. Just don't mix up the pots, and everything should be fine." He turned to Zuko. "Think you can manage?"

Zuko's lips twitched. "I'll do my best."

The air filled with a shrill whistling. It hummed inside Katara's ears and she clapped her hands over them. "The day shift is over!" Rari said. "Time to open!" He pulled down some folded cloth and handed it to Katara. "Your uniform, my dear."

Katara frowned. "Uniform?"

"Yes. Zuko doesn't need one as he'll be safely stashed away back here, but I think you should have one. My last waitress did and I like to preserve _some_ tradition." Rari plucked his own mauve robes. "See? I've got mine!"

"Okay…" Katara looked at the fabric. "I'll just be upstairs…"

Upstairs, Katara found the Blue Sparrowkeet uniform more than a little intimidating. It featured a pair of dark cropped pants that ended above the knee and left nothing to the imagination and an overskirt -- it was more of a veil, actually -- that tied on one side. A top in the same shade and fabric came with it. It tied behind her neck. When finished, she stared at herself in the mirror -- her other dress had definitely exposed less stomach, less leg, and less, well, everything else. If her dad had problems with her bending in her underwear, she bet he would have _serious_ problems with her going out in public looking like this. Then again, her dad had worn a Fire Navy uniform as part of the war effort -- wasn't this just the same?

Huffing, she adjusted her hair and left the apartment, started down the stairs. Zuko stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed, staring at nothing in particular. Then her footsteps creaked on one finicky stair and he turned and something in his eyes changed, something in his mouth softened. He looked like the first time she'd knocked him to his knees at the Western Air Temple.

"Is that your uniform?" he asked.

"Yeah…" She plucked at it. "I think it would be better for the beach than work, though."

Zuko's expression hardened, then he gave an odd smile. "Would you please excuse me?"

"Uh… Sure…"

He turned and Katara saw him make his way toward the kitchen. He disappeared through fabric panels that coasted in the breeze. She frowned after him. A moment later, she heard a distinct thump against the wall and the sound of crashing dishes. Then silence. Finally Zuko emerged carrying something that looked suspiciously white and tent-like. "Look what I found," he said. "It's an apron."

"I know what it is," she said. She hooked it over her head and started tying it behind her back.

"Do you need help?"

She blew air past her teeth. "Please. No." She turned around. "See? My knots are fine."

"Yes. Yes they are. They're very…" Katara made a half-turn and waited for him to finish his sentence. "Tight," he said. He mimed pulling strings taut. "They're very tight knots."

Rari cleared his throat. Katara hopped down from the stairs and followed him out onto the lanai. "Now that you're sufficiently wrapped up," the old man said, "let's start our night." And with that he blew fire in the red lantern that hung beneath the sign, and the Blue Sparrowkeet was open for business.

* * *

Waiting tables was not as easy as it had sounded. The third time some tarted-up woman insisted on _almond_ milk, not _soy_ milk, Katara began fantasizing about slowly choking the life out of General Iroh. It would be fit punishment for putting her here in the Oyster District. Why couldn't they have just broken into the palace like normal thieves? So what if they got caught? Prison had to be better than sucking up to women who wore too much makeup and men with coal dust under their fingernails who kept on asking Katara if she wanted to go pearl-diving.

"Um, I'm at work right now," she said, for the fourth time.

"But think about all the money you could make selling pearls," the customer said. He nudged his date. "Go on, tell her."

The woman's heavily-plucked eyebrows rose. "Well, that's depends," she said in a purring voice. "How long can she hold her breath?"

"Um, I'll be right back," Katara said, and backed away. Being in the Fire Nation felt like one long ice-dodging ritual -- you had to keep moving, otherwise something might pop up and rip you open. She collected empty cups and plates from a nearby table and took them to a sink in the back. They were mounting; she would have a lot of bending to do later. Zuko stood watching the hourglasses like a pensive owl-cat, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

"How are you doing?" His eyes refused to budge when he spoke.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Have you seen any Dai Li?"

She shook her head. "No, just a bunch of people asking me to go pearling."

Zuko's gaze swung down from the hourglasses. One of the teapots began to whistle. "Who? Where?"

Katara shrugged. "Just customers," she said. "Is pearl-diving really popular here? Is that why it's called the Oyster District?" A second teapot whistled for attention. They rattled on their little trivets. Water bubbled up around their lids. She pointed. "Shouldn't you get those?"

He blinked. "Uh, yes. Right. I should." He didn't move.

"Well, I'll just be going…" Again, she had the urge to back away slowly. She ducked under the fabric panels separating the kitchen from the tearoom just in time to hear the teapots' insistent, full-blown shriek and Zuko's muffled cursing. Suppressing a snicker, Katara headed deeper into the tearoom. Two new customers sat waiting. They were boys about Zuko's age, and together they filled in the whole doorframe. The meatier one wore his hair back and his eyes lit up when she stepped forward. His friend, a little skinnier but with a lot more hair, simply blew his bangs aside with a puff of breath.

"We'd like some tea," the boy with the topknot said.

"Then you're in luck," Katara said. She pointed to a table. "Please have a seat."

The two boys took their sweet time sauntering over and made a big show of settling into their chairs like they'd just done a hard day's work. (They clearly hadn't; Katara knew soft hands when she saw them.) "What are your specials?" the one with the topknot asked.

Katara rattled them off. "Tonight we have a very delicate white tea with whole moonpeach blossoms, and a spicy black tea with dried spark-seed and sweet almond milk."

They blinked at her. Had she said something wrong? She frowned at them. They frowned at her. She gestured to a large scroll hanging from one wall. "Those are in addition to our usual offerings, of course."

The bored-looking one with the shaggy hair said "Just ginger," in a dispassionate voice. "My stomach is killing me."

Katara nodded. "Excellent choice." She turned to the other one. "And for you?"

He smirked. "Why don't you help me decide on your next break?"

Her eyebrow twitched. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I want you to come and sit with me."

Katara dug her fingernails into the tray she carried. "I'm sorry, but fraternizing with the customers isn't allowed. I'll give you-"

"How come it's not allowed?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Because I said so, that's how come."

Her customer snorted. "Look, spitfire, I don't know who you think you are, but we're _Chan_ and _Ruon-Jian._ We're some of the most important-"

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?"

Zuko had appeared on soundless feet; Katara flinched and glanced backward. He twisted a towel between his hands. Looping it over both palms, he pulled it taut. The boys froze. The one with the topknot looked as though he might cry. "Y… You're…"

"I think I'm gonna be sick," his friend said.

"Then I guess you'd better leave," Zuko said. Nodding emphatically, the boys stood. Their chairs squeaked across the floorboards and tumbled backward as they pushed out the door, momentarily crowding it before finally bursting free. Through the window, Katara saw them dash into the bathhouse across the street.

"Do they know you or something?" Katara asked.

"Yes."

Katara smiled. "You have a rare and special talent for making people angry, don't you?"

"They weren't angry." He flipped the towel over his shoulder. "They were _terrified._"

* * *

Finally -- and she had no idea how this happened -- the night ended. The customers seemed to take note of the color of the sky and begin drifting away slowly. Gradually, the crowd thinned to the young and drunk, fuelling up for the walk home with their final cup of tea. Katara had to tiptoe around one lingering, snoring drunk to collect teacups before Rari finally ushered him out. Then Rari dimmed the red lantern and officially closed the place. "I'll sweep up in here," the old man said. "You take care of those dishes."

Nodding wearily, Katara sighed and headed for the kitchen. Zuko was wiping down counters. She stared at the mountain of dishes for a moment, knew a moment of genuine despair, and then sighed. _I'll bet they're asleep at the Western Air Temple, right now. I'll bet no one has done the dishes. What did they eat? Sokka probably insisted on meat, and didn't even think of what Aang might need. _Hanging her head, she re-examined the dishes and opened the taps. Water thudded into the sink. "Could you heat this up for me?"

"What?"

"The dishwater. It needs to be warm, or the tealeaves will stick on."

"Oh. Right." Zuko moved over to the sink, grimaced, and stuck his hand in the water. Soon it was steaming. "Is that hot enough?"

Katara tested it with her elbow. "That's fine, thanks." She tipped a bar of soap into the sink, and bent water up around it. Squinting, she sculpted a hand of water around the bar of soap and lathered it. Then she bent the soapy water into and around the cups. Zuko leaned against the wall, staring. "You could help me, you know," she said. "The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can go to bed."

"Uh…"

"You know? Sleep? Blankets? Ringing any bells?" She turned around. "Are you okay? You look flushed."

"It's the, um, steam."

"Well you're not allowed to get sick, so don't even think about it. I need you fired up and ready to go."

He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "That won't be a problem."

"You two seem to be doing well," Rari said. He ducked under the fabric panels separating the kitchen and tearoom. He held out a tray with two dishes. "I was saving these for you. It was a long first night, but you still did very well."

Katara stood and wiped her hands on her apron. "Thank you, but I'm not finished with these yet-"

"Oh, no, that's quite all right. Drying this particular variety of porcelain requires a light touch, otherwise the glaze cracks." He held out the tray. "Please, go outside. The air out there is much cooler."

"Good," Zuko said, and grabbed the tray. "Thank you."

Katara rolled her eyes, untied her apron, hung it on a hook, and headed out the back door. Zuko sat on the lanai, shoes already off, tray abandoned. He was digging his toes in the grass when she sat beside him with the tray between. She hugged her knees. Her feet ached; even the thought of trudging up the stairs was painful. Squinting, she located a glowing bug and pointed at it. "Glowflies!"

"_Fire_flies."

"I'm tired of fire," Katara said. "Everything in the Fire Nation is fire this or fire that. Fire lilies, fire flakes, fire festivals. You people really need to get more creative."

"We have an ancient and beautiful culture. We're advanced."

"Spreading war is _not_ advanced. It's wrong and it's wasteful. Your-"

"Stop." He turned so that she saw both halves of his face. "We're outside. Someone might hear you."

"And do what, report on me?"

"Yes." He lowered his voice. "And we're already in enough trouble because those guys recognized me. We might get reeled in sooner rather than later." He picked up one of the dishes. "Eat your custard."

Her frustration failed to melt away, but it did dull slightly, replaced by a dread she didn't want to voice. "There's custard in there?" She took it from him and opened the lid. "Why didn't you say so before?" She placed the lid on the tray and reached for a spoon. She dug in, and had the spoon halfway to her mouth when she noticed Zuko staring at her with abject revulsion. "What?"

"It's not finished, yet," he said. "You can't just eat it plain."

"Plain?"

Zuko picked up his dish and took the lid off. Inhaling, he proceeded to breathe fire over the creamy custard until it developed a golden crust. Katara smelled caramelizing sugar and spices. "Like that," he said. He tipped it a little to show her, then picked up his spoon. "Then you tap it, like this." He tapped the crust until it shattered. He spooned up some of the crust in with the custard in one bite. "You're supposed to get both parts."

"Oh, so it's creamy _and_ crunchy!" Katara frowned. "That's not very fair to non-benders."

"They get someone else to do it for them," Zuko said, and nimbly grabbed the dish from her fingers. He breathed over it carefully. The smell of burning sugar filled the air between them. He held it out to her to show her the amber crust. "Is this dark enough?"

Katara made a show of thinking. "Hmmm… I'm not sure… I've never had it before…" She held up one finger. "Can you do one half darker than the other?"

"Half and half," Zuko said. He bent down and blew on the left side of the bowl, rotating it slightly with his wrist. When he finished, the custard's left side was a glossy brown. "There you go."

"Thank you." She tilted her head. Grinning, she used her spoon to pry some of the darker crust free and slip it onto the lighter half. She showed it to Zuko. "Guess what this is."

Zuko blinked and frowned at it. Then his expression relaxed and his whole posture eased. "The koi fish," he said.

"Good job," Katara said. She spooned up some of the custard and aimed it for her mouth. "There may be hope for you ye-_mmmm._"

His good eye widened. "Did you burn your tongue?"

Swallowing, she shook her head. She closed her eyes. Cinnamon and almond and rich, slippery sweetness coated her tongue. Little crunchy bits of warm, sticky sugar snapped between her teeth. "Mmm…"

"It's…good?"

"Mmm-hmm…" She sucked the last little bit of sugar off the spoon, then loaded another spoonful. It was still good the second time. "Wow…"

"Haven't you ever tried it before?"

"Not like this."

Zuko lay down on the lanai. "The Fire Nation does have some things worth saving."

"Maybe Fire Lord Sozin should have dropped custard, not bombs," Katara said.

"No, that's what your brother would do."

The laugh bolted away from her lips before she could stop it. She imagined Sokka standing aboard a Fire Nation war balloon with a big pot of sugar and eggs, heaving steaming bowlfuls of sweet goodness over the side. In her mind, he shouted _Custard away!_ And Teo was there with him, and Aang flew beside them, dodging sticky-sweet bombs and steering Appa to catch them in his gaping mouth. And part of her wanted to keep on laughing, and the other part wanted to know why that silly future couldn't be theirs, why it couldn't just be the world's largest pie-throwing contest and not the fight of their lives, not a struggle to save her Gran-Gran's house and her hometown glaciers and her very civilization.

"Hey," Zuko said. "You don't have to cry. It wasn't that funny."

She wiped her eyes. "You're right, it wasn't." She took another spoonful. "But this still tastes really good." Her lips clamped over the spoon. She stared out at the garden and the fireflies. She heard the clatter of dishes in other households, watched lamps and lanterns slowly fade into shadow as the rest of the district went to sleep. In a little while, Iroh would wake Aang for training. And while they practiced and while her dad and Sokka planned and while Toph doubtless teased Suki about something or another, she and Zuko would be asleep. That's how how much their lives had changed in just a little while. She dug into the custard. And she smiled a little when, silently, Zuko placed his dish beside her to finish.

* * *

**Note: Many of you guessed that the Oyster District is roughly equivalent to the Fire capitol's "red light district." You guessed correctly. In the Oyster District, when a man asks a woman if she is interested in pearl-diving , neither party is interested in either shellfish or jewelry.  
**

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: Thanks for all the great reviews, guys! I had no idea the last chapter would be so popular. You really make the hard work worthwhile. **

**Thanks: To OrePookPook, who coined the term "pearl-diving" when I mentioned the Oyster District to him. (If you like that joke, thank him!) Thanks are also due to Drisela, who provided fresh art! And to OrePookPook and Miribai for promoting the story!  
**

* * *

Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!  
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard._--William Shakespeare_

* * *

Late that morning, Katara awoke to the sound of buzzing insects and a tight pain in her chest. It felt as though Toph had some how tracked them down and dropped a big fat rock there. Katara coughed. The air felt too thick -- wasn't rain supposed to clean the air? She sat up and coughed again. The pain remained. Sweat prickled under her hair. She decided she no longer liked the summer -- she much preferred clean, crisp, frigid winds to the hot soup that was Fire Nation atmosphere. _How can anyone live like this?_

Wearily, she sat up and stretched. Her breath caught and she continued coughing. _Maybe I caught something. _She shook her head. She couldn't get sick. People were counting on her. Sighing shakily, she stood, parted the mosquito netting, and moved into the bloodbending meditation Akna had taught her. She shifted slowly from posture to posture. Her feet protested. Aches radiated from the soles to her knees; she sensed the blisters she was too tired to heal the night before. Working in the teashop was hard -- there was a lot of standing up, and no sitting down. She hadn't realized the luxury of sitting down until now.

It didn't help that her cycle was due soon. She could sense the effort that holding it back would require. Akna had taught her about all the major veins and artieries and when she concentrated, she could feel them pulsing and coursing with life. It was like staring at a vast map of her own body, only she could dam up certain rivers with some (actually a great deal of) effort. It was slow going and she much preferred working with water she could see. She wanted the month to be over. She wanted the mission to be over. A heavy sigh from her only caused more coughing, so she stopped and moved for the door. She could at least get a bath in.

Zuko rested on his right side. Through the narrow bar of open door Katara allowed herself, it was tough to see if he was asleep or merely resting; the scar made his eye seem permanently sleepy. She watched his breathing. It seemed deep and even; sometime in the dawn hours he had shrugged off that funny vest thing he slept in and so she saw the rise and fall of ribs. Quickly grabbing her bag, Katara dashed across the room on her tiptoes. It felt like those times she and Sokka had tried to sneak out to play without waking Gran-Gran. Zuko frowned in his sleep. She instantly slowed her progress, and proceeded on very light, careful feet toward the door. Wincing and holding her breath, she reached for the key, opened the door-

-and remembered that Rari (the old pervert who had given her that stupid uniform that even _Zuko_ disapproved of) might be eager to sneak a peek at her in her underwear, if he happened to be up and about. Thinking fast, she grabbed Zuko's cloak off the hook and wrapped it around herself. _It's not stealing,_ she reminded herself. _I'm going to give it back. _

And she did intend on giving it back -- after her bath, and after she went through his pockets. The latter thought didn't occur to her until after said bath. Rather, she finished pulling up her hair, checked her wrappings, cleaned her teeth, fastened her necklace, threw the cloak on, and jammed her hands in the pockets. And promptly found a note. It read: _"Dear Katara. Quit going through other people's things. Love, Toph. PS: Sokka wrote this. He says hello." _Sokka had finished with a tiny rendering of the Runaway wanted poster. On the other side, he had drawn what was either Aang defeating the Fire Lord, or two polar mice fighting over a piece of food.

Katara blinked hard until the hot prickling behind her eyes went away. The painful constriction in her chest tightened even further. She stuffed the note back in Zuko's pocket. Holding the cloak shut with one hand, she unlocked the apartment and re-entered it. Zuko was fully awake, now, and the door to her room hung open. He was peering inside when the front door squealed shut and he turned around: "Oh."

"Bathtime," she said, and coughed. That polite cough became a bigger, louder, less polite cough -- she couldn't quite seem to stop -- and the pain in her chest worsened, spread. "I think I'm allergic to the Fire Nation," she said with a croak. "My chest really hurts."

"It's the coal smoke," Zuko said. "You're not used to it."

"I miss clean air," Katara said.

"Me too." He shifted on his feet, then gave her an odd, suspicious look. "Why are you wearing my clothes?"

Until this point, Katara had not really considered herself to be wearing someone else's clothes. She was simply borrowing them the way she might borrow an extra blanket -- an apt comparison, what with how the cloak actually fit on her. Her hands disappeared inside those voluminous sleeves; it must have looked as though she had lost her other arm. "Oh, sorry. I just didn't want Rari to-"

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah." She rocked back from heel to toe. "I didn't thank you before, about the apron."

Zuko shrugged. "It's fine." He didn't move. She suspected he was annoyed about her taking his things -- he kept scowling at her bare legs poking out from under his cloak. Angry color stained his good cheekbone and spread down his neck to his bare shoulders. He swallowed and she saw the tendons working. He really did seem smaller, now. She remembered his neck always seeming so thick, before. Maybe it was just a trick of the eye -- his hair had gotten absurdly shaggy and it overshadowed the other features. But she could have sworn his arms used to be bigger, scarier. _Maybe he was always like this, under his uniform._

Pursing her lips, Katara moved for her room. "Well, my clothes are in there, so if you don't mind…"

"Your clothes." Part of Zuko's brain seemed to have shut off. He didn't move, only blinked a little. "Right. They're in there."

"It's my room, Zuko. Where else would they be?" She stepped closer. He didn't budge. He stared at her hand holding the cloak closed. "You know, the sooner you let me by, the sooner you can have your stupid cloak back." She waved an arm. This close, the sleeve's loose fabric just grazed him as it flapped up and down. "How does this thing even fit you? It's huge!"

"You're smaller than I am."

"It's practically a blanket. I'll bet it could even cover the futon!"

"Yes. Yes it could." His good eyebrow lifted. "You don't need another blanket, do you?"

"What are you, crazy? It's too hot already! I almost had to freeze my bathwater!"

That single eyebrow climbed steadily higher. "You can do that?"

"Hello? Waterbending master? Do you not remember the Spirit Oasis _at all?_" She frowned. "Are you feeling okay? You're not usually this stupid in the morning."

"I… I think I have a fever."

"You'd better not." Katara stood on tiptoe and reached up. Under her open palm, Zuko's forehead burned. She winced. "Wow, you might be right." She flicked him in the forehead. "No getting sick! Now I have to make _you_ an icebath!"

"That might be a good idea."

* * *

Zuko took very short baths. Katara had dressed, made her bed, and wandered down to the kitchen to inventory items for a possible late breakfast -- how could Rari and the rest of the district sleep through this infernal heat? -- when Zuko appeared on the stairs with damp hair. He seemed more himself.

"Fever gone?" Katara asked.

"For now."

She folded her arms and stepped away from the canisters of red beans and sugar. "Shouldn't you get some perks out of being a prince? For a guy who bows down to you, Rari doesn't exactly provide a lot of food."

"He's taking a huge risk just hiding us here."

Katara sighed. "I know." She straightened. "I guess that means I'm going shopping. You can't eat out every day."

Zuko blinked. "No… I guess not…" He started for the door. "Let me get my hood."

"Oh, no. No way. You're not going anywhere. Those two guys recognized you, yesterday. We don't need anyone else realizing that Prince Zuko is in town."

"They don't know who I am," Zuko said. "I never told them my name."

"Oh, please. Of course they knew who you were. No one is that stupid."

"They are." He gave an odd smirk. "Chan made a move on _Azula_. He's a moron." He moved again for the door. "We should get money-"

"Zuko. I told you. I'm going by myself." She put her hands to her hips. "You got lucky, yesterday. It was dark and rainy and you had a hood on. But now it's broad daylight, and you're going to look really suspicious if you go outside wearing a big heavy cloak for no good reason."

Zuko pointed directly at her necklace. "Oh, and you won't look suspicious at all!"

"I've passed for Fire Nation, before!"

"You'll get lost!"

"The greengrocer is _down the street!_ How could I get lost?"

Zuko opened his mouth, then closed it. He stared at the floor. "I don't know. But I don't like it."

"We're trying to look like we _don't_ want to get caught, remember? It doesn't make any sense for you to risk being recognized -- you're looking for your mom, right? You can't exactly find her if you're arrested."

"The whole point is our getting arrested!"

"Then I'll be sure to tell the Dai Li exactly where you are if they pick me up. It'll save them the trouble." She rolled her eyes and headed for the door, then turned on her heel. "You can consider this payback for leaving me behind, yesterday."

"You were asleep!"

"You could have left a note telling me you were leaving!"

For some reason, Zuko's gaze instantly fell to the floor. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'll write you a note next time."

Katara shifted on her feet. "Well, thank you. Now if you'll excuse me."

"Wait, you need money-"

"I have money. It's just up-"

"No, take mine."

He reached inside his clothes and brought out a handful of gold pieces. Katara had to avoid looking overly impressed -- that wouldn't do. Instead she stepped back and said: "I can't take your money."

"It's Ozai's," he said. "I just took it out of my account before I left."

She frowned. "What account?"

"My allowance." He offered a strange smile. "It had accrued three years' worth of interest."

"Why were people interested in your allowance?"

"They weren't. It means…" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter what it means. Just take it."

She shook her head. "You spent money on me yesterday."

"I spent money on _us_ yesterday." He snatched her hand and deposited a lump of coins in it. "There. Do what you want with it."

Rolling her eyes, Katara started for the door. But Zuko kept his grip on her wrist. She tugged but he wouldn't let go. "Hey-"

"And when someone asks you to go pearl-diving, you say _no._"

"Why would I want to go pearl-diving? I could just find oysters with waterbending. Now let me-"

"And if you're not back soon, I'm coming to find you."

Her mouth fell open. "Who are, you my _dad?_ I'll get back when I get back." She jerked her hand but it only brought them closer together. She backed up against the counter. Zuko seemed a lot taller, now. This close she could tell he hadn't shaved -- or if he had, he had missed a spot just under the jaw on his right side. She brought her other hand up to push him away but he caught it. She gave him what she hoped was a wry look. "Let me guess. You want to save me from the pirates?"

He looked down at their hands. His good eyebrow jumped up and he let her go but didn't move. Instead he swallowed and leaned forward. The kitchen counter dug into her back as she tried to avoid him. She nearly slipped and almost grabbed his shirt-front before stopping herself. He was reaching for something above her head. His wrist made a neat turn and he brought his hand down, rested it beside hers on the counter. "I'll be timing you," he said. "You have until the last hourglass runs out."

Fury spiked up within her. "You are so-"

"If you're not back by then, I'll find you." His jaw set. "And you know I can find you."

Her hand sought her necklace. "What are you going to do, hire a bounty hunter?"

"I'll do whatever it takes." His eyes lifted from her necklace to the hourglass, then back again. "Your time is running out."

* * *

Katara made sure the door slammed on her way out. She marched up the street in the direction of the greengrocer's cart. A man walking in the opposite direction smiled at her, noticed her face, and turned pointedly away. She stomped up the street. Where did Zuko get off _timing_ her? She resolved to be late on purpose. Two could play this weird passive-aggressive game. Let him search the city. Let him wear himself out trying. She'd be safely holed up somewhere nice, spending all his money on something he couldn't possibly enjoy or benefit from -- a pedicure, perhaps. Surely the Fire Nation had spas that were just as nice as the ones in Ba Sing Se. She grinned and hurried for the cart-

-and found none. Katara frowned. She could have sworn it was sitting in this very spot the other day. Perhaps she had misremembered it. Maybe it was further up ahead. Sighing, she peered down the intersection, but no greengrocer. Not even a hint of one. The day was hot and still. Nothing stirred. Only toucan-puffs wheeled in the sky above. She was alone.

"If you're looking for the vegetable man, you won't find him," said a voice high above. Katara flinched and looked up. A woman was airing out her futon on her balcony. "He got robbed," the woman said. She pounded the futon with a wooden spoon. "Said he wasn't coming back. You'll have to go to the market."

Katara almost asked: _Which market?_ But that would have betrayed her even further as a foreigner, so she just said: "Thanks!" and proceeded out toward the district gates. Better to traverse territory she'd already visited once before. That way she'd know when she returned to the district -- that oyster sign was impossible to miss. _I won't get lost. I can't get lost. The harbor is west and there's a big sign. How could I possibly get lost?_

* * *

She was lost.

And that was not her biggest problem.

Someone was following her. Someone whose presence had only moments before disturbed a flock of toucan-puffs on a nearby roof, causing her to look up and see a dark blur duck out of sight just before her heart froze in her throat. Someone who had followed her ever since.

At first, she suspected Zuko. Stalking someone just to prove a point was totally his style. But she knew Zuko -- he would never let himself be seen. Katara had yet to catch a real glimpse of her pursuer, but she had seen his shadow. He continued following her along the factory rooftops, and when she walked under the huge steel pipes that dripped steam to the dry earth below -- and not in the shadow of those factories -- he had no choice but to expose that shadow. So long as she kept herself pointed west, she would keep seeing that shadow at odd intervals.

She paused, knelt, and pretended to dig a pebble from her shoe. Was he Dai Li? Didn't Dai Li travel in groups? Why hadn't they arrested her, yet? What did they want? Did they not know where Zuko was? If she kept her westerly path, wasn't she leading them straight to him? Sweat rolled down the small of her back. Her heart thudded in her chest. She watched the shadows. They moved-

-laughter sounded around the corner. Three women wearing strange kerchiefs rounded the corner and paused. They wore clothes strikingly similar to Katara's. "Hey, are you okay?"

Katara stood. "Oh, yeah. Just something stuck in my shoe."

"Well, you'd better come on back to work," one said. "Our break is almost up."

Katara blinked. "Oh, right… Work…"

They frowned. "Are you sure you're okay?" the middle one asked. "Do you need to see the company nurse?"

Katara put her hands up. "Oh, no, that's fine. I'm just…new here. I got a little lost."

"Oh, no wonder you don't have your mask," said another of the women. She dug in her pocket and produced another kerchief. "That's why I always keep a spare. If you don't wear one of these, you'll get sick. You wouldn't want to lose wages, would you?"

She took the kerchief. "I guess not…"

"Everybody gets lost their first day. This whole block is all Haganegikou property. Next time, just follow the tracks." She pointed to a group of iron-and-wood ties on the eastern side of the factory. As Katara watched, two sweating men with a trolley squeaked their way down the tracks. Their cart carried fat lumps of coal. It vanished inside the factory's gaping maw. "They'll lead you right back."

She swallowed. "Great…"

Bells gonged in the nearest building. "Time's up!" They pulled on their masks. Katara did the same. "Don't worry," said the woman who had offered Katara her mask. "If you're a part-timer like us, the shift is only a little bit longer. We work until the afternoon, when the kids get out of school. This company's really good about that kind of thing -- you're lucky to be here!"

"Lucky…" Katara said. "Right…"

To her surprise, the woman on the furthest edge of the group hooked arms with her. "Come on," she said. Katara found herself staring at a friendly smile. The woman gestured at a gathering crowd of masked women in red. They began filtering into the factory -- each almost indistinguishable from the other, like that time Aang had given everyone headbands at his dance party. And slowly, Katara began to smile.

"Thank you," she said. "I'd really be in trouble if it weren't for you."

"That's the spirit," said the woman whose strong arm was now hooked in Katara's own. "Now if they would just stop sending so many shells our way…"

"Shells?"

"You know," her new co-worker said. "For the bombs?"

"Only the best for our boys in the Earth Kingdom," said the one in the middle. Katara went very still. Her eyes lifted and for the first time she read the sign above the door. It read MUNITIONS in great broad strokes. And the sign was getting closer as the laughing women hurried her along, as the bell gonged again and she heard the clang and screech of metal on metal. And distantly, as though through miles of water, she heard: "That's such a pretty necklace! Isn't it from the Northern Water Tribe?"

Katara's stomach plummeted. She swallowed in a dry throat. "Um…"

"Wow, your boyfriend survived the Siege of the North?" The one holding her arm elbowed her. "Don't be shy. It _was _your sweetheart who gave you that necklace, right?"

Katara nodded. Her voice felt much smaller. She was glad of the mask. "Right…"

The woman at her right offered a dreamy sigh. "You're so lucky. I wish someone would bring back a trophy for _me._"

* * *

The factory was a nightmare of heat and noise. They ushered her into a line. That line stood on either side of a belt of sorts. Komodo rhinos stood inside odd man-sized wheels and walked an endless circle, and straps attached to the wheels kept the belt moving. On the belts were rough tubes of metal. Someone handed Katara a rag. She watched the other women pick up the tubes and begin polishing them. When they were done, they put them down and picked up another. More came from a chute in the wall.

Katara looked at the shell in her hands. "It's just metal," one of the women said. "It won't bite you."

No. It would just blow up someone's house. It would put a pit in the earth where there hadn't been one before. It would take out a submersible. It would explode and destroy and annihilate. And it was in her hands. She was helping to make it -- because she was hiding, because there were Dai Li outside, because she was alone, because they were on a larger mission, because of Aang, because of her…

"It'll bite someone else, though, won't it?" she asked. Her hands trembled.

"Oh, you bet. But don't worry -- you only have to bomb one town before the rest fall in line." The woman squeezed one eye shut and peered down the shell. "I mean, it's not like anybody really wants this war to keep on going."

Katara allowed herself to feel hope. "You really think so?"

"I know so. People aren't that different. They all want their boys to come home. It's just that people like the old Earth King were really stubborn -- do you know how oppressed the people of Ba Sing Se were? Their king _lied_ to them about the war. Princess Azula was right to install a new government. Now they're ruled by their own people, they cooperate with us, and we get all the coal we could ever need." The woman put the shell down and picked up another. "I'm telling you. The sooner Sozin's comet returns, the better off the whole world will be."

Katara heard the steam-filled pipe above her head start to shake and rattle. "Would you excuse me?" she asked. "I have to use the girl's room."

"Out those big doors and to your left," the woman said.

Katara backed away from the line and marched out the big doors. She followed another woman through a riveted steel door with a small blue dragon plaque. Inside was a series of seats all behind little separate stalls, and the sound of rushing water below. Women gossiped at a trough where they fussed with spouts and soap. Katara slipped into a stall and banged the door shut behind her, used a funny little lock to keep it shut. She sighed and covered her eyes with her hands.

_Get a grip. This isn't the prison ship -- you're not surrounded by the ocean, and these people don't want to be freed. They're happy. They're stupid and wrong and ignorant, but they're happy. And you can't bend in front of them. _

Her breath came too loud. She heard the other two women at the trough leave the room, then the third that she had followed inside. Now she was alone. Katara uncovered her eyes and stared at the floor. It had a big, uneven crack through it, like an earthquake or eruption had shaken the floor after the tiles had been set. That was the thing about the Fire Nation -- it was this powerful thing sitting on top of a series of sleeping, fiery giants that could burn the center of their little would-be empire off the face of the earth in minutes. That was the kind of force that flowed beneath the surface of their land, like the water coursing through the channels beneath this very factory. If there were an eruption…

Katara felt the smile spread across her face before the thought had truly formed in her mind. She stared at the water flowing beneath the seat, then at the pipes above her head. She _was_ surrounded by water. She _could_ stop those bombs from being built. Not forever, but for a little while -- and she could escape with the other factory workers when they evacuated. Grinning, she stood up on the seat and began stirring the water in the pipes. They froze solid. Even if she wasn't wearing the dress or the veil, she was still the Painted Lady. And she had destroyed bigger.

She hopped down from the seat and left the room. Instead of re-entering the factory floor, she kept walking, past a door marked with a red dragon and down another corridor. Turning a corner she found herself faced with stairs; her footsteps rang hollowly on the steel. She followed them up and suddenly the factory unfolded beneath her: pipes, coal fires, belts, wheels, chains, noise, fire, workers. If she continued up the stairs, she would head toward a special deck

that seemed reserved for the overseers -- two men drinking tea under an open window. She ducked into the shadows, took a deep breath, and raised her arms. Instantly, she felt the steam and slurry in the pipes answer her. Smirking, she drew her hands across her chest. Frost coated each pipe. Sweat gathered on her brow, at her neck. And the steel groaned in protest.

Exhaling through clenched teeth, Katara pushed the ice further down the pipes. She heard crackling and felt the hotter, pressurized water in the pipes combating her efforts, licking at the ice as she pulled it ever downward. She heard the first shouts of confusion, smiled, and let her arms fall. Fairly skipping down the stairs, she re-entered the corridor-

-and felt a hand clamp over her mouth. It tasted of salt. She writhed under its grip and elbowed the body behind her. She watched her heels frantically try to find traction as a heavy door creaked open behind her and they entered another washroom -- the men's. Then she really started fighting, and then he slammed her up against the stall.

Zuko was fury embodied. He spoke through gritted teeth. "_What_ do you think you're doing?"

She clawed the hand away and pushed it back. "Were you following me before?"

He frowned. "What? No."

"I mean it, Zuko. Did you follow me when I left?"

"No. I waited. I waited and waited…" His mouth hardened. "Where were you? Why didn't you come back?"

"Someone followed me," she said. "Someone was chasing me."

His good eye widened. "The Dai Li?"

"I don't know! But I didn't want to lead them back, so I had to pretend to work here." She held her hands up. They were covered in grime, little black half-moons under her fingernails from the soot and dirt inside each shell. "See?"

He stared at her fingers with something that vied between horror and disbelief. And just then the door opened. Zuko froze. He held a single finger up to his lips and looked down at their feet together on the floor, clearly visible under the stall door. He squeezed his eyes shut and managed a mighty clearing of his throat. The man who had entered stopped in his tracks -- his shadow paused. "Oh, sorry," he said somewhat sheepishly, and soon the door closed.

Katara could withhold her giggles no longer. "You're purple," she said, pointing. "Your whole face is-"

Above them, a pipe blew a screw and steam hissed out. "Oh boy," she said. "Looks like I got a little carried away…" A bell began gonging. She heard shouts in the hall. "Uh, maybe we should go, before we blow up…"

_"Blow up?"_ Zuko kicked the door off its hinges. He turned around and held a finger up. "You're never leaving the house _again_."

Katara moved for the door. "Fight later! Escape now!" She slipped into the hall and headed right. Then a tug on her dress had her moving left and up the stairs again. "Hey, where-"

"Faster," Zuko said, and he was pushing her up the stairs.

"But we can escape with the crowd! That was my plan!"

"Plans change." They ran toward the overseer's deck. Zuko knelt down under the window. "Come on."

Frowning, Katara put one foot on his knee. Then he was lifting her and she was squirming through the window head-first; she fell to a little patch of rooftop connected to the ground by pipes. Zuko emerged a moment later. She turned to him. "How exactly does this help us escape?"

He pointed down. There, on the ground, far away from where the other workers had evacuated, was a second set of tracks -- and an empty coal trolley. Katara beamed. "Okay, I like the new plan."

Inside the factory, they heard the bang of pipes combusting. Zuko's good eyebrow rose. "Let's move."

She didn't have to be told twice. She grabbed the pipe, took a deep breath, and slid down. Zuko followed a second later. He took hold of one side of the coal trolley. "Push!" She grabbed the other and started running alongside him. They fled past factories and crowds of people and gathering militia officers. The trolley began to rattle on ahead of their grasping fingers. "Jump!"

Katara jumped. Then she was in the trolley and Zuko gave it one last heave and they were moving downhill and he jumped in, too, and covered them both with his cloak. This close she could see his pulse hammering under his jaw. Their knees were somewhere near their eyesockets. "You're insane," Zuko said, from his cramped position. "You risked everything and put the whole mission in danger."

Katara winced. The trolley rattled. "Sokka said the same thing after I blew up that other factory."

Zuko's mouth fell open. "There was _another_ one?"

Her wince deepened. "Well, it was polluting this river, and the whole village was suffering, and when I helped Aang blow up Azula's drill-"

"Give me back my money."

"Hey! You said it was _our_ money!"

"I sent you out for groceries and you sabotaged a whole munitions depot!" Zuko leaned violently to the left and upset the trolley. He rolled free and dusted himself off. "And if you really want to overload a boiler, you need a firebender along."

Katara looked at her sooty dress. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

For dinner they had steamed spider-mudcrab legs wrapped in green leaves and cold, vinegary noodles flecked with scallions, cabbage, and sesame seeds. "Just don't try the dipping sauce," Zuko said. "It's too hot for you."

"Thanks," she said, and sucked more meat from her crab-leg. Outside, a humid fog had settled over the district, and it obscured the few lit lanterns under a wrapping of silken mist. Her mind felt a bit the same. Today she had worked in a Fire Nation munitions factory. Yesterday she had served tea to Fire Nation citizens. And in between, she had started sharing this space with the person who once tied her to a tree, the person who stole her necklace and stole Aang and joined Azula. And he had bought her dinner. Twice.

"Do you like your crab?"

She nodded. "It doesn't taste like it came from the mud at all."

"Did you have a good nap?"

Again, she nodded. "I think I might be getting the hang of sleeping during the day. But taking two baths still feels really wasteful, even if I was covered in soot." She contemplated the giant pink crab leg in her hand. "Did you go out while I was asleep?"

Zuko shook his head. "I asked Rari to go out. I didn't want to leave." He swallowed. "You know, in case someone showed up."

"Right." She picked at the noodles. "I guess we should try to figure out who that guy was who was following me, huh?"

"You're sure it was a man?"

Her eyebrows lifted. "I think so. I didn't get a good look, though." She held a hand over her cup of hibiscus tea and watched a lump of ice form in the middle. She picked up the sweating cup and held it against her face, then her neck. "I think I caught your fever."

Zuko almost smiled, though she had no clue why. "It'll rain soon," he said. "Then you'll feel better." And with that he reached over and took her crab leg. Coiling it tightly in its leaf-wrap, he used the greenery as a cushion to help him snap the leg at various places. His wrists flexed and she heard the crunch of bone muffled by leaves. When he unfolded the leaves, the leg crumbled away in segments to expose glossy, flaky crabmeat.

"Wow, you were really mad at that crab." But his eyes weren't on the crab, they were on her chilled cup of tea. "Do you want me to do yours, too?"

"Um, I'm just curious…"

She smiled and reached over to his tea and chilled it down. "There you go."

"Thank you." He lifted his cold tea. "Um…I've been thinking… About today…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Your dad and your brother are going to be mad at me for losing you…"

Katara snorted. "Not if they don't know." She picked up half a yuzu and squeezed it over the crab. Tangy juice dripped all over. She held the crushed fruit in one fist. "I'll make you a deal. I don't tell them about how you brought me to the worst neighborhood in town, and you don't tell them about me wearing that uniform. Deal?"

He nodded. "Sure." He tried his tea. "It's good. It's really, um, refreshing."

"It's too hot for hot drinks." Katara flopped to the floor. The mats had a new grass smell that she liked. From this angle, she could see the gathering clouds through one window. "Do you think they'll find us soon?"

"…Probably."

She nodded. "At least you're good at sneaking out of places."

"And you're good at sneaking into them. And destroying them. And stealing things."

Katara gave him her best vexed look. "Fine, no teasicle for you." She waved two fingers over her tea, drawing it up through the air in a fine red ribbon. Then she froze the tea to her fingers and started sucking them. The ice didn't taste like much, but it did feel good. And Zuko was staring at her with what was surely the purest envy. She drew the icicle out of her mouth. "Don't you wish you'd been nicer?"

"Yes," he said. "I do." He rolled over onto his stomach. He lifted his tea with both hands. "Pearl-diving means someone wants to go out with you," he said suddenly. "It's slang. It means someone wants to pay you to go out with him and…be his girlfriend for a while." She heard ice clinking in his teacup. "So… I just thought you should know. If someone asks again, I mean."

Katara frowned. She sucked on her icicle. "But the people who asked me already had girlfriends. They came in with dates."

"Those weren't real girlfriends. They were paid girlfriends."

"Why would you pay someone to be your girlfriend?"

"I don't know! I've never done it!" Zuko hung his head. "Just tell them no. No matter how much they offer you."

She arched one eyebrow. "They really wanted to be my boyfriend? _All_ of them?"

"…For a little while."

"How long is a little while?"

Zuko colored. "It depends on the man." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, it's something only really desperate men do and we're in enough trouble already."

That was true enough. She had come here to do a job, not to put up with guys so lonely they'd pay women just to sit and have tea with them, or whatever it was that Fire Nation people did on dates. (She suspected something having to do with laughing at propaganda puppet shows and building vacation homes on refugee property.) She shut her eyes. "Hey," she said. The words were easier with her eyes closed. "How did you know where to find me?"

"That's easy," Zuko said. "I looked everywhere, and I didn't stop." He paused. "That's how I always find you."

* * *

The rain came and with it, customers. They filtered into the Blue Sparrowkeet, made their orders, asked Katara if she was new. She smiled and did her best and with a tiny little bit of waterbending -- not that anyone would notice -- she avoided spilling tea all over men with arms the size of tree trunks. She felt good. It felt good to perform well at a job that didn't have to do with saving the world or re-inventing her bending or taking care of people who'd needed her from the moment they met her.

Things were going so well.

And then a flaming arrow thudded into the wall above her head as she delivered empty cups to the kitchen, its tail vibrating in the air and its flame scorching the wood. And the tiny little sack attached to the sparking arrowhead ignited. The kitchen wall exploded in a shower of glass, sand, and tea -- the hourglasses in pieces now, scattered all across the floor like the fallen canisters of sugar now streaming their contents from the counter. And Zuko was over her and his hand pressed her face down in the sugar and he said in a tight voice: "Teashops. Why is it always teashops?"

Katara coughed. "The Dai Li use exploding arrows, now?"

"Maybe it's the Yu Yan." Zuko grimaced. He looked at the back garden. Glass fell from his hair. "I don't have my swords."

Katara arched an eyebrow at him. "When has that ever stopped you?"

He smirked. Then he was rolling off her and they were popping back up. She pulled her apron off and bent boiling hot water straight from the teapots and he had a dagger of fire in each hand. From the front door, another arrow came their way; Katara batted it out of the air. It snapped harmlessly in two. And the customers who hadn't screamed or fled started doing both. Someone vaulted through the window -- a small shape with bushy hair that brandished two hands full of blades.

"This is for Jet!"

Smellerbee sprang into the air. Steel glittered in her hands; she wore new gloves with bladed claws. Zuko kicked a chair up, grabbed it, and held it aloft. Her blades sliced through the wood as three more blazing arrows streaked into the teahouse. Katara raised a shield of ice. The arrows fizzled out on it, and she transformed the remaining ice into a volley of frozen needles. They whistled out the window. Smellerbee growled and lunged for Zuko; he summoned a fire-whip and swung it for her feet. She jumped.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Zuko said. He swung the whip again and brandished the splintered remains of the chair as he backed away.

"You gave Jet to the Dai Li!" Smellerbee swung her blades at Zuko.

Katara blasted ice at the girl's wrists; they froze together. Ice coated the blades. "You gave Jet to the Dai Li?"

Zuko's good eye popped. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to!"

"They _brainwashed_ him-"

"He attacked me! In a teahouse! Just like this!" Zuko dodged as Smellerbee ran for him; he grabbed her ice-bound wrists and used the leverage to force her down to the floor. Smellerbee hawked and spat in his face. She turned to Katara.

"And now you've joined _him_," she said in a voice like gravel. "We thought you were on _our_ side."

"I _am_ on your side…" Katara licked her lips. "We're here together because… Because…"

"We're looking for my mother," Zuko said. "I joined the Avatar-"

"Yeah _right!_" Smellerbee opened her mouth wide. "Longshot! Smoke 'em out!"

Something fell through the window -- a peppery smell filled the air. Katara spied a handful of little sacks from which the noxious fumes emitted. Her eyes watered and she coughed. Her throat burned. She covered her mouth. Zuko was coughing; he grabbed her elbow and steered her out of the room, through the kitchen, and out onto the lanai. There in the rain stood a huge, familiar shape. Something lashed out at them and Katara's body went limp. She crumpled into the mud. Beside her, Zuko fell.

Someone jumped down to join them. Mud splashed across Katara's face, in her hair. Her new uniform was soaked with it, now. She felt it spreading coldly up along her bare stomach. Boots came into view. Rain pattered down.

"You know, I predicted this a while ago," a woman's voice said. She leaned down and Katara saw black hair and dark lips. "And I really do love being right."

"Jun." Zuko's old snarl had returned.

The bounty hunter smiled. "She's still too pretty for you, oyster-face." Her gaze swung to Katara. "What are you doing with this loser? How did he talk you into ditching your brother and the kid?"

"He didn't _talk me into_ anything! Let us go!" Katara tried writhing but it didn't work; only her neck wanted to move.

Jun pouted. "And miss out on all that reward money? I don't think so."

"Whatever my sister's paying you, I can double it," Zuko said.

Jun's perfectly-groomed eyebrows rose. "Your sister? Oh, no. Your family doesn't care enough about you to put out a bounty on your head." She knelt down and grinned. "But the Blue Spirit? And the Painted Lady? That's another story."

* * *

**Whew! This chapter actually had a lot of re-writes done to it, so now I'll feel twice as bad about all the errors I usually catch after posting. I just wanted to thank everyone for all their support and reviews and drawings. This story is turning out to be something special, and it's thanks to you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: Regarding NYCC trailer spoilers, I have one thing to say. In all likelihood, scripts were completed pre-hiatus. Similar to the case of _Ozai's Vengeance_ and bloodbending, I just made a lucky guess. That, or Mike and Bryan and the Ehasz family and I have all watched the same movies. (HI GUYS. WE LOVE YOU.)  
**

**Thanks: To MouseThatRoared and Drisela for fresh art! And to all of you for reviewing! I've learned that there are actually a lot of you lurking out there, so say hi. I won't bite.**

* * *

Her face seems ravaged by both lightning and hail. But on yours there is something like the promise of a storm: one day passion will burn it to the bone. _--Jean-Paul Sartre_

* * *

"Does the phrase _poetic justice_ mean anything to you?" Katara asked, from her position on the xirxiu's back.

"Believe me, it does," Zuko answered. He wrestled against the iron cuffs holding his hands behind his back. He tried kicking, but Jun was crafty: she had chained their hands and feet too tightly to allow for firebending kicks. The chains locked up and he sighed steam. The vapor condensed on Katara's face.

"Stop breathing on me."

"I can't help it!"

"You kids be quiet, or I'll hang you both from that tree over there and let those two have a shot at you." Jun pointed. When Katara craned her neck upward, she saw Smellerbee examining her clawed glove. She winced, and let her head drop. She tried to clench some feeling back into her hands.

"This is all your fault, you know," she told Zuko.

"Why, because I rescued Aang from Zhao? Because I let your bison free?"

"Because you let that stupid mask just float to the bottom of the lake! No wonder they found it! You're a _firebender_! Couldn't you have just _burnt it_ or something?"

"Oh, and your _unmasking_ in front of _a whole town_ was a _great idea._"

"You know, I missed this," Jun said. "You two are so cute."

"Shut up," they said in unison.

"We're here," Smellerbee said. The xirxiu stopped short. Katara rested her cheek against its warm, pebbly flank for a moment before a tug on the chain brought her sliding down its body to the wet grit below. It moistened the caked-on mud already coating her knees. When she raised her head, she saw a broad white tower and narrow windows hewn from the surface of a massive rock-face. In the darkness and rain, the building seemed to blur a little. Beside her, Zuko sat up a little taller on his knees as he watched Jun approach the tower.

"You don't have to do this," he said to Longshot. "It's me you're after. I'm the bigger bounty. She helped Jet. She helped that village. That's the kind of thing you used to do."

Longshot looked at the ground, then at Smellerbee. The girl's face hardened and she shook her head. "We can't trust anyone who's on your side," she said.

"He's on _our_ side, Smellerbee!" Katara leaned forward. "He joined the Avatar. He wanted to teach him firebending!"

"Then why aren't you with the Avatar now?" Smellerbee asked. Her eyes narrowed. The paint on her face crinkled slightly. "What were you doing alone in the capitol?"

Katara sighed. "It's a long story…"

"And one you'll have plenty of time to tell the interrogators," Jun said. She marched up close to them with a bevy of Fire Nation militia at her back. She nodded at Longshot and Smellerbee. "Gentlemen, I believe you know the Freedom Fighters."

_"Hey!"_ Smellerbee ran at Jun, but found herself in the sudden grip of two militiamen. She snarled and kicked and spat. "You said you would help! You said the bounty had expired!"

"I lied," Jun said. "So now I get four bounties for the price of two!"

"You _trusted_ her?" Katara asked.

Zuko shook his head. "Amateurs." As the militia struggled with Longshot and Smellerbee, Zuko leaned over. "I know this building," he murmured. "They're going to separate us but I'll get you out. I promise."

"Don't worry about me," Katara said in a terse whisper. "Worry about _them_. We have to get Longshot and Smellerbee out, too. And Teo's dad -- what if he's being held here?" It was true -- Jun and her xirxiu may have just given them the opportunity they needed to discover more about the weapon they were on a mission to find. Why comb through Ozai's battle plans when they could go directly to the source? She turned, warming to her idea. "We have to try- Why are you staring at me like that?"

Zuko blinked. "You're… You're going to be all right in there."

Someone wrenched her to her feet. "I know," she said, and a black hood descended over her face.

* * *

It was as Hama had said, only worse. There was an iron cage. It hung suspended over hot coals in a room pumped full of dry, skin-chapping air. There was no water, just the sound of boots on dirt and whispering voices saying things like _Water Tribe_ and _Avatar_ and _eclipse._ They didn't even remove her hood. She sweated blindly under the dark, scratchy cloth and strained against the chains keeping her arms locked immobile behind her back so she couldn't bend. Her limbs throbbed; if someone unchained her now she still couldn't bend until the feeling in her fingers and hands returned.

_Welcome to the rest of your life,_ said a voice in her mind that sounded suspiciously like Hama. _You're going to shrivel up and die in this cage._

"Hey!" Katara rattled her chains. She wasn't going to learn anything about how to escape if she didn't see more of the prison. "Don't you want to ask me some questions?"

Something clanged against the bars of her cage. She felt it reverberate up through her bare knees and feet. Somewhere along the way she had lost her shoes. "We've got all the time in the world, Painted Lady," a man's voice said. He dragged something across the bars -- it sounded like the hilt of a sword. "You just rest up for now."

"Where is Zuko? Where are the other two that you took?"

"The prince is getting the royal treatment," he said. He laughed deep in the back of his throat and Katara felt goosebumps rise along her arms. His voice and the sound of his footsteps receded.

Hours passed. Or maybe only minutes. She couldn't tell. She wished for something like Zuko's ability -- his bending would tell him about the sunrise and in this kind of situation he would at least know when a day had passed. This close to the new moon she was operating blindly in more ways than one. Worse yet, a persistent twinge in her abdomen said her cycle had arrived. She had attributed her pain to the chains and the xirxiu and the bumpy ride in the coal trolley, but the familiar dull ache said otherwise. Sighing, she concentrated on her own blood and tried to hold it back. She had broken free of bloodbending, before, when she had no control over her arms. This was the same. And it gave her something -- anything -- to do that didn't involve wondering if she would grow old in this hole.

"Stop," she whispered to herself. "Focus." If all she could control was her own attitude and maybe her blood, then she would do so. Water Tribe women were adaptable. They found ways to flow around obstacles. She had a task to do, and imprisonment had never held her back before. She was a master waterbender -- _Sifu Katara --_ and the daughter of a chief who genuinely loved his family and his people. No one could take those things from her. The Fire Nation could destroy her future all they wanted, but they could not erase her past or how it had shaped her. The decision that led her to this point -- alone, exhausted, terrified -- had been the right one. Whatever else happened, she refused to regret following Aang or choosing this mission.

Katara took a deep breath and plunged her awareness into the comforting pulse of her blood.

* * *

When the questions came, they came in a small room with a hard chair and rings of steel that held her tingling arms and legs and head in place. She saw men in green uniforms and a lantern. Dai Li. For the first time, the fear caught up with her. _Azula knows we're here. And she won't let us go a second time. _Some distant part of her said it was okay to be scared, that they might go easy on her if she started to cry or beg. But -- mercifully -- that part was somehow a lot quieter than the insistent pain in her back and pelvis, and the thirst parching her throat.

"Are you Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter of Hakoda?"

The lantern began to make a circle about the room. "Yes."

"And are you the Avatar's waterbending teacher?"

"Aang doesn't need one, anymore. He's a master."

"Were you his teacher in the past?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"Are you also known as the Painted Lady?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever sabotaged Fire Nation property?"

"Yes. A lot."

"Did you take part in the attack on the Day of Black Sun?"

"Yes."

"Were you part of the plan to help your father and the other prisoners escape?"

"No."

"Ah. So you were aware of their escape? Is that because they are with the Avatar, now?"

Katara froze. _Good one, Katara. Way to give away everything._ "I don't know where they are," she said. She blinked hard. Her time wearing that hood had left her nearly blind, and in this room she had only the lantern to concentrate on. Its spinning had a lulling effect. All she wanted to do was sleep. But she couldn't -- she had to stay alert. The best thing she could do for Aang and the others now was to proceed with the mission as planned, learn more about the prison, and keep the Dai Li from learning too much. "Where is Zuko?" she asked. "What did you do with Longshot and Smellerbee?"

"Don't worry about them," said one of the agents. "Worry about yourself."

"Were you this selfish when you worked for Long Feng?" she asked. "Or did you catch it from licking Azula's boots?"

A stone hand flew up from the ground and clamped around her neck. It began to squeeze. She gritted her teeth. "We're going to try this again," said the agent. "What are you and Prince Zuko doing in the capitol?"

She decided to use Zuko's lie. Talking to the Dai Li was probably the same as talking to Ozai, and Zuko had been clear on what he was going to say. She had told enough fibs with Sokka to know that their stories had better match up. _Just don't let me down, Sparky. _"Looking for Zuko's mother," she said in a choked voice.

The hold tightened. "Fire Lady Ursa is dead."

"That's…not…what…Ozai says."

The hand relaxed its grip, but just barely. "Why did you leave the Avatar?"

She tried looking away. It was hard, with her head seemingly bolted in place and that thing around her neck. "None of your business."

"What was that? Speak up."

"It's personal! You don't need to know!" She hated herself for blushing. _You've got nothing to be ashamed of. _

The shadows in the room shifted. "We'll decide what we need to know."

* * *

Over and over, she answered the questions. Sometimes the Dai Li phrased them a little differently, but they were mostly the same. _Where is the Avatar? What is his plan? Who are his allies? _And the inevitable temptation: _Wouldn't you like some water? Don't you want to get out of those chains? Shouldn't you try to make this easy on yourself?_

Katara had a single answer: _I don't know._

It helped that strictly speaking, this was true. She didn't know Aang's plan. She didn't know if he even had one. She had no idea where he was or who he was with. Maybe he had split from Iroh. Maybe her dad had re-joined the remaining Water Tribe forces. Maybe Suki and Sokka and Toph had decided to follow her and Zuko. Maybe they were busy testing new and tasty varieties of explosives. Maybe they were dancing with dragons. Maybe. Maybe not.

There seemed to be no other Water Tribe people in the room where they hung her cage -- no other people at all. She had no clue whether to take heart from this or not. She had no sense of the passage of time. Her hunger and thirst and pain interfered with that. There was only wakefulness, questioning, and sleep. She tried to make sleep the majority of her time. And the pain itself was useful -- it kept her from succumbing to the odd peaceful sensation of answering the Dai Li's questions.

There was one spot of kindness, and it came in the form of a woman named Ming. She alone brought Katara water, and the third time she did it Katara almost broke down in tears of relief. But then Ming said: "Do you know what happened to General Iroh?"

"No," Katara said, backing away from the cup. "Leave me alone."

"I was one of his guards, before," Ming said. "I just want to know-"

"Go away, and tell the Dai Li what I said."

"I'm not here for the Dai Li-"

_"Go away." _

Katara heard Ming's frustrated sigh. "Just tell me," she said. "Tell me, and it'll make things easier for everyone."

Inside her hood, Katara squeezed her eyes shut and set her jaw. "Your people killed my mother," she said in a rasp. "I'm not here to make anything easy for you."

* * *

The next time they removed her hood, Katara stayed inside the cage. She watched them march a hooded figure into the room, under all the empty cages. She heard his grunt and the whirr of fans as they kicked him to his knees. His hood came off, and only the rattle of her chain told her that she had unconsciously leaned forward to get a better look at what remained of a bloody, pulpy face.

"Hi," he said, through his fat, broken lip. "Zuko here."

Her stomach turned. "Hi."

With his good eye swollen shut like that, she could just barely see his gaze searching her cage. "…You okay?"

She nodded. He obviously had it worse. "They can't knock me down."

"Let's not be too hasty." Katara turned to see a shape in trousers walking under the cages, flanked by Dai Li. The hairs on her neck prickled. "My, my," Azula said. "You two are positively _filthy._"

"At least my conscience is clean," Katara said.

Azula rolled her eyes. "Spare me." She arched an eyebrow at Katara. "Someday you'll get it through that thick peasant skull of yours that appeals to my _conscience_ are about as useful as those pitiful excuses for boats were against our bombs." She smiled gently at Zuko. "Zu-Zu understands. Don't you, Zu-Zu?"

Zuko merely looked away. Azula circled him. "Our father has given me a task, Zuko. I have a country to defend. And I'm the only one in this family capable of doing what's necessary to defend it." She leaned down behind him, spoke in his good ear. "You would do the same in my position, Zuko. If it were your precious Uncle Fatso you were protecting, you would put me in a cage and do unspeakable things to me, too."

Zuko kept his head turned. "I won't tell you anything. I refuse to help you."

"Oh, it's not me you're helping," Azula said. She smiled at Katara, and pointed two fingers from each hand and began stroking the air in intersecting circles. Blue light followed the path of each hand. Katara backed up inside the cage.

"Don't do this," Zuko said. He struggled to stand, lunging for Azula and falling miserably short when the Dai Li manacles wrenched him backward. "Azula _please_, I'm begging-"

"I don't want you to beg, Zuko." Lightning crackled in Azula's fist. "I want you to cooperate." She moved slowly into a lunging posture. "It's a simple question, Zuko. Yes, or no."

Katara scrambled backward in the cage. "Don't tell her," she said. "Whatever it is, don't-"

"I can't hold it forever, Zu-"

"Don't tell-"

_"Yes!"_ Zuko's voice cracked. He bent double and spoke into the floor. "Yes. He's with them. Uncle Iroh is with them."

"Well, that's better," Azula said, and quickly whirled on her toe. She sent a single bolt of lightning in Zuko's direction. It entered his back and he jerked, his body twisting into itself before going utterly limp. His manacles sparked. Katara leaned forward as much as the chains would allow. "That's from Father," Azula said.

"Zuko." Katara watched his unmoving body. "Zuko. _Get up_." Nothing. Not even a groan. Her gaze shifted to Azula. Katara's whole body came alive with rage -- the pain and the fear just evaporated in the face of it. "You're _slime_," she said. "Now I know why your mother abandoned you. She couldn't stand that a monster like you came out of her body."

Azula blinked. She smiled softly. "Yes," she said. "I suppose that's true." Wrinkling her nose, Azula toed her brother's body with one foot. A soft hiss of pain escaped him. She nodded at the Dai Li, then at Zuko. "Get him fixed up. He has an execution to attend."

_"What?"_

Azula smiled brightly at Katara. "Oh, didn't you know? In the Fire Nation, treason is punishable by death." She leaned forward. "And so are acts of war."

* * *

"I hope you appreciate the irony of this situation," Katara said.

They were tied to a tree. Or more accurately, chained to a tall wooden beam. It stood in the center of a courtyard ringed with torches that made glowing inroads against the rainy night. She guessed that a day had passed -- her hunger said that much. But she was glad of the rain. Her body soaked it up. She stuck her tongue out and caught drops. Her circulation was returning.

"You know," she said, "when I imagined you paying for your crimes this was _really_ not what I had in mind."

Behind her, on the other side of the tree, Zuko shifted. "Guard," he said weakly, "could you fetch her gag?"

"You know, I shouldn't be so surprised. You're always coming back. Like a rash."

Zuko sighed. "I can't believe I lived through everything just so it could end like _this_. With _you._"

"Hey." Katara leaned to her left, which was his right, and therefore his good ear. "How _did_ you survive?"

"Azula held back," Zuko said. "She didn't want to kill me. She just wanted to hurt me. That's who she is."

Drums sounded at the furthest edge of the courtyard. A series of palanquins entered under an arch wreathed in dragons. The torches flared. Azula stepped forward first, parting the veil with her talon-like fingers and hopping down. She strode briskly along the lines of guards and militia as though conducting an inspection. She gestured and a troop of archers appeared in the windows above them. "Why are there so many people?" Katara asked. "It's just us."

"Ozai never leaves the palace," Zuko murmured.

"_Ozai?_ Your _dad_ is-"

A portable gong sounded, and the entire courtyard silenced. Even Zuko seemed to go still, on the other side of the beam. The chains stopped clinking. A dark, armored shape descended from a second and much more ornate palanquin -- Katara recognized the silhouette from Aang's picture of the Fire Lord. He stepped forward into the torchlight, and the assembled crowd knelt. Even Azula took a knee; Katara and Zuko were the only ones left standing.

"Zuko."

Ozai's voice had that same gruff rasp that Zuko's and Iroh's did. He was handsome in a very pretty way -- his hair was even longer and shinier than Princess Yue's. He had the same straight nose and narrow chin that both Zuko and Azula had, but Zuko clearly resembled him more. For a moment she tried imagining Zuko without the scar. No matter how much she tried to impose Ozai's face over his, she still saw either a smirking boy with a ponytail or the person whose life she had threatened, the one she had knocked down with a water whip, the one who had asked to be taken away in chains.

"And you, the waterbender," Ozai said. He bid his people to rise, then strode over to her side of the beam. "Your reputation precedes you. Although like my complete disgrace of a son, you too have turned out to be a disappointment. Shouldn't you have escaped, by now? I thought you would be stronger."

"That's okay," Katara said in the breeziest voice she could muster. "I thought you would be taller."

Ozai's eyebrows lifted. He backed away. He circled the beam and spoke to Zuko. "Your taste in companions has yet to improve." Zuko said nothing. The chains crossing Katara's chest tightened as he stood taller. "Ah, the silent treatment," Ozai said. "This is a far cry from your theatrics during the eclipse. _I'm going to talk and you're going to listen._" Ozai laughed dryly inside his throat. "Did the Avatar _banish_ you, Zuko? Did he see you for what you were? A traitorous, bumbling, mistrustful little boy who has always envied his sister's ability?"

"He couldn't forgive me for the things I did in the past," Zuko said in a quiet voice. "No matter how I pleaded, he couldn't see past my failures."

"Then he's a boy after my own heart." Ozai chuckled. "And you, waterbender. Why did the Avatar discard you?"

Katara stuck her nose in the air. "I don't take orders from Aang. I left on my own."

"Oh? Was mending the Avatar's socks not enough for you? Did you want to move on to bigger and better things with my son in the _Oyster District_?" Katara heard a barely-suppressed snicker and turned to see his lips twitching, the skin at his eyes crinkling. And behind him, a whole group of militiamen grinning in a way she didn't like. "My daughter has a theory," Ozai said. "She thinks that your precious little Avatar had _feelings_ for you. Isn't that sweet?"

"I hope Koh steals your face," Katara said, wishing she had enough saliva to spit with. Her face flushed. "Oh wait, he already has enough _girls_ in his collection."

Ozai's eyes narrowed. The torches surrounding them glowed white. "I can see now what you and my son have in common. Your disrespect will be your undoing, too." He stepped closer. "We've sent out a public notice of your execution. But no one's come to save you. Not your father, not your brother, and not the Avatar. You must have done something abominable to earn your exile, because now you're all alone."

Katara blinked. She missed Toph, suddenly. Toph would know exactly what to say right now. "Sparky, did your dad fail math? He can't seem to count past one."

Ozai turned on his heel. "Destroy them."

The militia formed a circle around the beam. They raised their arms. Azula stepped in to join them. "Any last words?"

"Fire Lord Ozai planned the murder of Fire Lord Azulon!" Zuko took a deep breath. The militiamen were lowering their arms. "He asked his wife to kill him because he was too much of a coward to do it himself, then he banished her! Fire Lady Ursa is still alive, and so is General Iroh! He is with the Avatar! Save yourselves, and join them before the Avatar destroys this place!" Abruptly, Zuko coughed. "I'm done."

Katara snorted. "Haven't you ever heard of _ladies first_?"

"Sorry. I thought they should know. Please go ahead."

"Quit stalling," Azula said.

Katara sighed and raised her chin to address her would-be executioners. Rain trickled down her hair and into her eyes. One by one, she met the gaze of the firebenders aiming for her. "Aang is going to destroy the Fire Lord. But that doesn't mean he wants to hurt _you_. He just wants the war to stop. So you can either stay here following orders like good little Fire Nation puppets, or you can do what's right."

Azula rolled her eyes. "Anything else? My arm is getting tired."

"Yes," Katara said. She smiled. "Watch out for boomerangs."

Drums pounded. Her smile died. She watched the firebenders begin generating balls of fire. They seemed to await a signal from Ozai. The beat quickened. She leaned to her left. "What happens now?"

"Well, it's called a firing squad for a reason."

"What? You mean they're-"

"Yes." He cleared his throat. "I'm so sorry, Katara. For everything."

It was suddenly difficult to talk, with the fear weakening her limbs. The drums seemed so much louder, now, the flames so much hotter and closer. She had not allowed herself to imagine the execution itself. Instead, she had been thinking about avoiding Koh and seeing Yue and finding her mother. She had not thought about who she would miss. She had not thought about how she had failed. She had not thought about how much this was going to hurt. "I'm sorry, too," she said. "I… I was really mean and you tried really hard-"

"It's okay." Something warm tickled her hands. Zuko's fingers. She felt them linking at the baby fingers, gripping tight at the knuckle. "Really."

"Your face is fine," Katara said. She sniffed hard. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's who you are-"

"Bend," he murmured. "Save yourself."

The drums hammered. Rain fizzled on dancing flames. She thought about the blood in her heart and her veins and how she could stop it, end it here. She thought about leaving Zuko alone. Her heart squeezed; the drumbeat became her pulse. "No," she said. "I don't turn my back on people who need me." She blinked and tears rolled down. "I met the real Painted Lady's spirit," she said. "I'll have to introduce you, when…when we get there."

"That's good." His little finger got a better grip somehow and his hands moved; he strained against the chain and those fingers slipped over hers. "We'll go together."

"I'm scared-"

"I'm here. I'm right here." The drums thundered. Awkwardly, he squeezed her fingers. "Close your eyes."

"I love Sokka," Katara said, shutting her eyes. "I love Dad and I love Aang and I love Toph and-"

"I love Uncle-"

_"Fire!"_

There was a rush of heat and darkness.

* * *

They fell into shadow. The chains loosened. Katara lifted her arms, shifted her legs. They ached terribly. "Are we dead?"

"No." Zuko moved and the chains clinked. A ball of fire appeared in his hand. It illuminated ring of Dai Li surrounding them in an underground chamber lined with pipes. "I'm not that lucky."

A hole opened above them and Azula dropped through. She clapped her hands together. "Well, that was informative." She looked to the Dai Li. "Get them."

Katara growled. She raised her trembling arms and swung them. Screws popped loose and boiling, sulfurous water shrieked free of the pipes. She brought it down on the Dai Li. They screamed. Pain rang in her head. She saw stars. Then Zuko was grabbing her hand and Katara stood and lurched forward, bending some of the priceless water along in a ribbon behind her. "Run!"

The chains hobbled them terribly, but Katara managed on clumsy, tingling legs. The chamber opened up onto a hallway. They turned a corner. Zuko clutched his ribs as he ran. Katara saw something dark and wet spreading across his back. "You're bleeding!"

Behind them, the Dai Li had broken free of the steaming muck and streaked along on the ground. They clapped their hands. Stone gloves appeared. Zuko pressed her head down and the gloves sailed straight over them. "Aim low," he said in her ear. Katara formed the water into ice-balls and let them fly straight for Dai Li groins. Three men doubled over and groaned. Above them, Azula whirled through the air, her legs trailing blue fire. She landed elegantly with both hands pointed out, ready to bend.

Zuko lunged. Fire plumed away from his fist and straight for her face. Azula threw herself backward. Then Zuko was dragging Katara by the chain. They ran for a door and he blew fire at it; they jumped through the narrow opening. The stain on his back spread. Katara's head throbbed. "Where are we going?"

"You don't want to know." He took one look at the pipes above them and steered them right, toward a gigantic pipe that joined the wall. A dark, foul-smelling spot surrounded it. Groaning, he bent fire straight at the pipe. The wall exploded. Sewage stench wafted up at them. Blue fire arced above them. They kept running toward the hole.

Katara whimpered. "Why do I have such bad luck with caves?"

The ground gave way beneath them. He found her hand again. They fell. Dark, wet rock-face slid past. An explosion and an angry cry sounded above them -- Azula. Something in Katara snapped to attention. She let Zuko's sweating hand free and raised her arms. The stinking waterfall behind them became an ice-slide. Her arms shook. Behind her, Zuko turned and she felt the sticky, wet heat of his bleeding back at hers, saw flickers of firelight at the edge of her vision. He shot tight blasts of fire as they fell. She gritted her teeth and forced the disgusting stew beneath her to freeze. Ice crackled beneath them; her heels skidded down it and Zuko had her, suddenly -- he clutched her head as they tumbled together across slick ice. They rolled to a stop. Katara felt the toe of a soft shoe at her ribs.

"Wow, guys," Ty Lee said. "You've really outdone yourselves!" She bent down, fingers out, and nailed Zuko at several points in the shoulders and back. He collapsed limply over Katara, pinning her down.

"Sorry," he said into Katara's neck.

"Awww…" Ty Lee grinned and put her foot on his shoulder, like a hunter claiming a prize polar tiger. "I can't wait to tell Mai about this!"

Zuko's head hit the ice with a resounding thud.

* * *

Katara was beginning to think that execution hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

"You're disgusting!" said one of the two women bathing her. She was chained up to a towel-rack in what was probably a very nice washroom (she couldn't see much, what with the way they'd strung her up) and getting poked and prodded and scrubbed and clucked at by two women who clearly had never met a Water Tribe woman before. (If they had, Katara reasoned, they would not have lived to tell the tale.) She felt just as indignant and undignified as she had when Gran-Gran insisted on a "post-solstice scrub" that involved a thoroughly-demeaning rubdown with fatty, ashy soap in a tub of rapidly-cooling water. They used bristly brushes and they pulled the knots in her hair. "Is there really a girl under all this dirt?"

"I can clean myself, you know," Katara said.

"But you're a waterbender! You could hurt us!"

"Right. I'm going to bend water at you, and then I'm going to run naked through the palace causing trouble." She rattled her chain. "You _took my clothes!_ Where am I going to go?"

"You could knock us out and steal our clothes," the younger one said. Her partner smacked her in the arm. "Ow! I mean…don't do that. You'll get caught."

"That's right, you will," said her older partner. "You'll get caught, and then you'll be sorry."

"I'm sorry now," Katara muttered.

The old woman jabbed her with the scrub brush. "There. You're almost clean enough to meet Princess Azula."

Katara thumped her forehead against the wall. "I think I'll take more scrubbing."

* * *

Dai Li agents and palace guards marched her to a room deep in the center of the palace, behind a lot of doors that seemed to open only for firebenders. _Typical._ The floor squeaked under her bare feet. Katara stared up at vaulted ceilings and wide, black pillars. The whole place seemed designed to make a person feel small. She wished she could wear her Water Tribe clothes -- they would have made her feel a lot prouder and more successful than her stupid work uniform. The Dai Li deposited her before a door flanked by guards. Katara barely had time to notice the interesting fire symbol cut out of the wall above the door before they snapped the cuffs free and pushed her inside.

She stood in a room featuring several beds, each of which had a mosquito net. Azula and two very old women stood at the furthest bed, flanked by female guards. "You," Azula said. "Fix him." She nodded down at the shape on the bed. Zuko.

Katara stepped forward. Someone had taken Zuko's shirt off -- his bandages were dirty and stiff with blood. A deep purple bruise extended along both sets of ribs. She saw lacerations where boot-heels must have connected. Her hands began to shake. He breathed shallowly. Sweat pooled at his collarbone, under hand-shaped bruises under his neck and a thin ribbon of bruise across his forehead -- the result of Dai Li questioning, no doubt. She saw the broken places on his lip, his black eye. The scar was the only unmarked spot on him. She felt sick. "I don't know what you mean-"

"You're the Painted Lady, aren't you? Isn't this your thing?" Azula smirked. "Don't try to hide your healing from me. I know everything. And Zuko's no use to me this way, so fix him like you fixed the Avatar -- or I'll reconsider my decision to spare you."

Katara set her teeth. _You don't know everything. You don't know half the things I can do. Otherwise you would never have left me alive. _ "It… It would be easier if he were in a bathtub."

Azula snapped her fingers. The guards unpeeled from the wall and entered an adjoining room. Katara heard water thundering in a tub. Azula smiled and rocked on her toes. "Li and Lo will be watching you. They made me what I am today, and they have no qualms about hurting you." She lowered her voice. "So don't make trouble."

"I'm not going to try to escape. No one deserves to be abandoned here alone with _you._" Katara pushed past Azula and bent over Zuko. She smiled tightly. "Hey. Sparky. I hate to tell you, but you reek. You really need a bath."

Zuko's scarred eye opened ever so slightly. His mouth moved. "Th… They let you keep it."

"Keep what?" Azula asked, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know! Maybe he'd make more sense if your goons hadn't hit him so hard!" Katara gingerly took hold of Zuko's arm and tried to loop it around her shoulders. Smart-mouthing the girl who had almost killed Aang was a lot easier when she had someone to fuss over, she decided. "Come on, Zuko. You won't get any better just lying there."

He hissed as he sat up. Fresh blood leaked into the bandages. His fingers slipped on her shoulders. "You're all clean…"

"Yeah, and you would be too, if you would just hurry up." A nervous laugh shivered out of her as she felt Azula's gaze burn its way into her shoulders. "Honestly, Jerkbender, you're so slow…"

"Yeah…" He hobbled along beside her. "I do everything slow."

They staggered inside the washroom. It was big -- Katara guessed that they were in some kind of infirmary, where injured people might need extra room. The guards stood at a black, circular tub set deep into the floor. The water smelled volcanic and strange. She knelt down awkwardly and Zuko tried to undo his boots; his hands didn't want to work. Katara batted them away and undid them herself. She pulled the shoes and bloody socks away and pursed her lips; Zuko's toes were black with bruising. Another long, thin bruise extended up along the left inner calf; she recognized the shape of a dagger and surreptitiously felt inside the boot. The dagger was gone -- someone had taken it away at some point.

"Come on, get in." Zuko slid himself in the hot water and she saw the effort it took; new sweat beaded up along the hairline and he sucked air through his teeth. Belatedly, Katara realized she should have got the bandages off first; she hopped down into the water after him. Hot water soaked her up to the waist; it stung where the old woman had scrubbed her too thoroughly. She felt too many pairs of eyes boring little holes into her. She scowled up at Azula and company. "What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a master waterbender, before?"

Azula nodded at the guards. "Get the peasant what she needs. I have _real_ problems to solve." She and one of the guards left. The two old women drifted into the room -- they seemed to almost float -- and they stared at Katara with their identical, deeply-wrinkled faces.

"Go on," one said. "We'd love to see your bending," said the other.

Katara did her best to ignore them. She concentrated on tugging the bandages away. As she did, ribbons of blood entered the water. She hissed. "It's bad."

"I know." Zuko's voice had gotten hollow.

She used her bending to trace the wound at his back. It wasn't too deep. Feelings flooded back at her, though: desperate terror, cringing helplessness, pain. She took a deep breath. "Not as bad as Aang, though."

"…Can you fix it?"

"Of course I can. I'm the Painted Lady." She worked on the lightning-burn first. It was the deepest and required the most concentration. Memories of raw horror came pouring out of it as the water glowed. She thought about knitting the skin back together. Her vision hazed with stars; she wavered on her feet and had to anchor herself with chatter: "I saw your wanted poster, you know. The Blue Spirit one."

"…I saw Appa's picture…" Zuko's eyes fluttered closed. "I climbed up on the roof…"

Katara moved the water up along his ribs. Some were broken. She pressed deeper-

-saw a boot, saw the floor spattered with blood and spit and vomit, saw Zuko's shaking hands and heard his voice saying _Do it to me, I'm the traitor, leave her alone-_

-and pulled away, eyes smarting. "How come…?" She swallowed. "How come you did that?"

Zuko lifted his gaze for just a second before looking away. He hung his head so his hair obscured both eyes. "I guess I'm just that foolish."

Katara crouched forward and spoke in a tight voice. "That was really dangerous," she said. Her gaze flicked to the old women then back to him. "Climbing roofs, I mean. You could have gotten hurt."

"…It was worth it." And there under the water was his hand across the back of her knee, squeezing once and letting go.

Katara sniffed. She bit her lip and looked at his ruined face. Her hand came up gloved in water and she covered the left eye for just a second before sliding over to the right, and he went still when the glow took over the room. When she brought her hand away, one piece of his face seemed right again. "All better."

Zuko blinked slowly. He tongued the cut on his lip. "Can… Can you do my mouth, next?"

* * *

She fell asleep in the infirmary. She had worked on Zuko until her hands were pruny and she could barely bend their clothes dry. It was slow work; bloodbending would have helped seal the ribs faster but she didn't want to show the others. When she finished, one of the old women produced a cookie from her pocket and Katara couldn't even taste it, she was so tired. The crumbs had yet to dissolve in her mouth when her eyes closed, and she still tasted them there upon waking. Then her cramps returned and she groaned into the pillow. She hated the new moon. No wonder she felt so weak -- the confinement and starvation wasn't enough, no. She was just that unlucky.

"Wake up," one of the craggy-faced old women said. "It's time for dinner."

"Food?" Katara asked. "Where?"

"In the dining room, of course," she said. "Princess Azula has ordered a special feast prepared."

Katara wondered if perhaps Aang had had these kinds of dreams before he gave up sleeping. Special feast? Azula? "Am I going to be the main course?"

"Nonsense," she said. "You are a guest of honor," said her twin. "And we don't eat guests of honor," said the first.

Katara rubbed her eyes. "Right." She looked over to Zuko's bed. He had curled up on his right side. His bandages were new and clean. And he needed a haircut in the worst way. Katara poked him in the arm with one finger. "Hey. Wake up. Your sister wants us to have dinner with her."

Zuko's scar twitched. "…Why couldn't they just kill us?"

* * *

Apparently, being the "guest of honor" meant suffering through the longest and most awkward and disgusting meal of her life. She sat on her knees to Zuko's left at a long, glossy table sunk into the floor in a room so huge it echoed. At her right sat Li and Lo. To Zuko's right was Fire Lord Ozai, on a raised dais. Across from Zuko was Azula, at Ozai's right hand. Beside Azula sat her friends, Ty Lee and Mai. Mai had come late -- she plodded in with her head down and made a bow to the Fire Lord. "Please accept my apologies," she said in her usual rough voice.

"Apology accepted," Ozai said. He gestured for Mai to take her seat. And when Mai raised her eyes, her gaze hit Zuko and stayed there. Beside Katara, Zuko stiffened. He looked at his empty plate.

"So," Azula said. "This is lovely. We so rarely eat together as a family."

"The family is the core of the nation," Li or Lo said. Katara couldn't tell them apart.

"Does your family eat together, Katara?" Azula asked. Her head tilted. "What's left of it, I mean."

Katara balled a fist. But then a gong sounded and servers appeared with trays bearing a series of identical tiny dishes. The one placed before Katara was a red lacquer square with a square of raw violet flesh in the center and a mound of something wet and sparkling on top. Her eyebrow twitched. "Leopard-shark tartare," Ozai said, sounding absurdly delighted.

"Father prefers his food raw," Azula said, smiling.

"It's good for the blood," said the ancient twin sitting nearest Katara. "You should try some," said the other.

"Is it poisoned?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, Zuko, you're so paranoid," Ty Lee said. "Why would we ruin dinner by poisoning you?" She popped the little circle of meat in her mouth. "Mmm…."

Sighing, Zuko picked his up. Katara watched him eat it. He was still alive a moment later, so she picked up her own and ate it all in one bite. The fish was slippery and musky-tasting, like gamey meat. She wondered if there was a special bending technique for keeping food down.

"Katara, did you make most of the Avatar's meals?" Azula asked.

She frowned. "…Yes."

"Ooh," Ty Lee said, leaning forward, "what kind of food does he like?"

"…Egg custard tarts," Katara said.

Azula smiled. "Fantastic."

"Are you going to send him poisoned egg custard tarts, Azula?" Ty Lee asked.

Azula's lip twitched. "No, Ty Lee, I believe it will take more than poisoned pastry to take down the Avatar." She blinked. "Not much more, of course. He went down easily enough last time."

"He's going to destroy you," Zuko said. "He's going to set things right."

There was a pause. Then, as if thinking in unison, Azula and Ozai began to laugh. Katara's jaw dropped. Aang was a joke in the palace. The Fire Lord wasn't even worried. "Oh, Zu-Zu," Azula said, carefully adjusting a tendril of hair, "don't ever change."

Katara turned. "Zu-Zu?"

"Oh, didn't he tell you?" Ty Lee asked. "That's his sister's special nickname for him."

"That's funny," Katara said, grinning. "I thought Toph called him 'Sparky.'"

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Oh?" Her gaze shifted to Zuko. "So the little blind earthbender is important to you, then? I'll keep that in mind."

Zuko squeezed his eyes shut. Katara's stomach flipped over. _Did I really just say that? Did I really just put Toph in more danger just so I could look smart in front of Azula?_ "She is," Zuko said. "And you've never treated me like a brother. Ever. I know what real families look like, now, and this isn't it. This whole thing is a farce. We don't have a real family. We don't love each other at all!"

Silence. For a moment, Azula actually seemed surprised. Then she smirked and said: "It's not my fault no one wants you. You brought that on yourself." She turned to Ozai. "You love me, don't you, Father?"

Ozai lifted a small, delicate cup. "You are my greatest accomplishment, Azula."

"Thank you, Father." She winked across the table at Zuko.

A revelation hit Katara. _We've been thinking about this all wrong. All this time, we've thought that Azula and Ozai were evil incarnate. But really they're just as petty and selfish as those pirates, or the judge who wanted to boil Aang in oil. They just have more power to back it up. _Katara cleared her throat. "You know, in the Water Tribe, a zu-zu is a kind of flute."

"Is it?" Mai asked. "I'll bet you're really good at playing it."

Zuko made to say something, then stopped. He sighed. Katara frowned. "Um… Actually, I never learned."

"It was Azula's first word," Zuko said. "She tried saying my name when I ran off to play."

Azula rolled her eyes. "That's Mother's story, which means it's probably a lie."

"She ran after me crying. She could run before she could crawl."

"Babies are so cute," Ty Lee said. "I'll bet you were _so_ cute as a baby, Azula!"

"I hate babies," Mai said.

"Speaking of which, aren't your mother and brother due for a visit?" Azula asked. She smiled. "I'm sure your mother would be very interested in seeing Zuko…and Katara."

"Ooh, Zuko, you'd better be careful," Ty Lee said. "I don't think Mai's mom is very happy with you right now…"

Katara looked between Mai and Zuko. Neither of them looked at each other. But before she could ask anything further, another gong sounded. The servers retrieved their plates and replaced them with a small bowl containing a single steamed dumpling in broth. _Where's the real food? Isn't this supposed to be a dinner?_ Katara poked at her dumpling with her chopsticks. Shining black eggs promptly dripped out. "Ugh…"

"It's pickled roe," Li or Lo said. "It's good for you!"

"It's okay," Zuko said. His dish was empty. "Go ahead."

Katara choked down the dumpling. _Where is all the spicy food?_ She found herself longing for shortribs and spiral-cut potatoes and whole fried fish with coconut rice. Anything had to be better than these tiny little portions of salty goo that left fish eggs stuck between her teeth.

"Don't you have the stomach for it?" Azula asked. "I thought Water Tribe girls would eat just about anything." She folded her hands. "You'll have to learn to like it here, Katara. You're going to be staying for a while."

Katara snorted. "I didn't know you missed your brother so much."

"Oh, I don't miss Zuko very much at all," Azula said. "Everything was so much easier with him gone. All he ever did was get in the way. But now you're both useful to us, and it's the only reason you're still alive."

Zuko leaned forward. "What do you want, Azula?"

"That's simple," Azula said, as another gong sounded. "I want you to work for me."

Katara stared at her. "Doing what? Serving tea?"

"No," Azula said. Another plate was presented -- a group of mushrooms and radishes carefully arranged on two tiny slabs of bean curd. Katara resisted the urge to throw it. "I want you to spy on the Avatar."

A mushroom fell from Zuko's chopsticks into his lap. _"What?"_

"You can beg your way back into the Avatar's good graces, can't you, Katara?" Azula asked. "It's obvious how he feels about you. He'll take you back. And then you can tell me everything about what dear old Uncle Fatso and he are planning." She smiled. "That's where Zuko comes in, of course. The old man has a fondness for him -- his own son was weak, too."

"Lu Ten was great," Zuko said, "and so is Uncle Iroh. He's a great man!"

"He's a failure," Ozai said. "This last attempt of his to oust me from my throne proof of that -- he cannot take the glory for himself so he must steal it from a child."

"You want us to _spy_ on Aang and Iroh?" Katara wondered if perhaps she had fallen into a pond that led to another version of the human world. This was like a bad dream. She had been caught and caged and starved and almost executed, and now Azula wanted her to follow Iroh's plan -- in reverse. "That's crazy! They'll never take us back!"

"Why?" Azula asked. "What did you do?"

"Yeah, Zuko," Mai said, picking at a radish. "What _did_ you do?"

Zuko's palms hit the table. "I didn't do anything! He just…" He looked at his hands. "He just couldn't forgive me."

"He's not the only one," Mai muttered.

Katara had had enough. "What is going on?" She stared at Mai. "Did he tie you to a tree, too?"

Azula snickered behind her hand. Ty Lee blushed and looked at her food. "He _tied you to a tree?_" Ozai laughed deep in his throat. It had a dry sound. Katara wondered if he smoked. "My, my, Zuko. You're a braver boy than I gave you credit for."

Zuko flushed. "It wasn't like that. I was looking for the Avatar!"

"Where were you looking for him?" Ozai asked.

"It's true," Katara said. "He was using me like bait-"

"The way Azula did with your little execution?" Ty Lee asked. "I was really hoping I'd see your brother-"

"Our execution was _fake?_" Zuko sat up on his knees.

"Of course it was," Azula said. "You're still alive, aren't you? And how else could we be sure that the Avatar had truly abandoned you?" She slid her gaze to Katara. "Or that you had abandoned him, which you clearly have."

Katara's fingernails curled into the wood under her hands. "I did not _abandon_ Aang."

"Oh? What was it, then? Did his little crush on you get inconvenient?" Azula's eyes flicked over to Mai. "It's so frustrating when that happens."

"His feelings for her were a distraction from his mission," Zuko said. "There. Now you know. She's gone, now, and he'll be able to focus. Which is bad news for you."

Azula sighed happily. "I knew it. I should have known under Ba Sing Se, of course. He and his new firebending teacher did come to rescue the two of you."

"You two were together under Ba Sing Se?" Mai asked.

"Oh, Mai, don't you ever pay any attention?" Azula rolled her eyes. "While you were watching that stupid bear, these two were rotting in a cell under the city." She blinked. "Didn't Zuko tell you?"

"No," Mai said. Her eyes shot needles in Zuko's direction. "He didn't."

"Nothing happened," Zuko said. "Why does everyone think that…?"

Katara glanced between Mai and Zuko. "Wait. Are you… Did you…?"

"Not anymore," Zuko said.

"Oh, _thanks_, Zuko. Tell _her_, but don't tell _me._ Remind me to just expect a _note_ next time."

Katara was busy restraining a laugh. "You two were…together?"

Color surged up across Zuko's nose. "What? Is that funny?"

"No…" She swallowed. "I just… I didn't think…"

"What? You didn't think I could get a girlfriend? Why? Because of my face?"

Katara put her hands up. "No! That's not it at all! I just thought you would be happier!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I mean," she said from between her fingers, "I mean, if you were so happy, you gave up a lot to be with Aang…"

"That's right. I did."

"No, you didn't," Azula said. "You hated it here. You were miserable." She turned to Mai. "Not that it was your fault, Mai. I'm sure you did everything you could." She examined her fingernails. "Of course, it's sad that Zuko didn't tell his new friends about you…"

"That's right!" Katara folded her arms. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He pulled back. "How is it any of your business?"

"Well, you could have _told _me," she said, making sure that her eyes met his, "that there was a _chance_ that we _might_ meet your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend," Mai said.

"You know, you could have _mentioned _that _before_ we left," Katara said.

Zuko's face had hardened. "I didn't expect to see her. And there are plenty of things you didn't tell me."

"Oh? Like what?"

_"Jet."_ His fingers twisted a napkin. "How _exactly_ did you know Jet?"

Katara blushed. "It's not anything special. We thought he was on our side and then he betrayed us, but then we met up again and I healed him and-"

"Oh. So that's nothing special."

Katara's heart dropped. "No! That's not what I meant! It was… It is…" She bit her lip. She hated having this conversation in front of Ozai. She could practically smell the glee emanating from Azula. Despairing, she cast about for something, anything, to help. It came in the form of a teacup. She bent the liquid free and splashed Zuko's face. "You're being a jerk! I spend all day healing you and this is the thanks I get?"

Zuko blinked a single pair of wet eyelashes at her. He took one look at her food and smirked. "Oh, that looks cold," he said. "Let me." He blew fire across the whole plate so that it was just one ashen clump.

Smoke drifted up between them. Katara stared through it. "Don't start with me, Sparky."

"I'll start with you whenever I want."

Katara held his eyes. He didn't blink. Then she moved and more tea was in the air and he grabbed her wrist. Tea fell and soaked their hands. "You're going to get us in trouble," he said.

"Zuko, these people don't really like you. I don't think they'll mind if I bend you into next week."

"One way to be sure," he said, and his hand came up full of fire but she ducked, pushed him in the chest. He rolled backward off his cushion and she ran the length of the table, bending sauce and tea and water and the wine straight out of Ozai's bottle. He sprang back up and punched fire at her. She batted it away and snapped a water-whip in his direction. Zuko blew fire at the whip. Part of it ignited and she paused to admire the flaming ribbon of fluid before her. She split it off. "Hey, I'm a firebender!" She made the flaming whip lick up what was surely a priceless antique scroll. "Guess I'd better start spreading destruction and chaos!"

"That scroll's been in my family for generations!"

"Yeah, and now it's burning," Katara said. "Maybe next I should burn down _your whole village_."

He ran for her. He waved away the ice-needles she sent at him. "That _wasn't me._ I didn't do that!" He jumped, ran along the wall, and kicked away. His leg trailed fire. The gong sounded as he landed; he paused. "What-"

"Soup course," Katara said, and watched as broth and noodles exploded from a matched set of crockery. She sent it at Zuko in one long blast. He skidded backward along the soaked carpet. They stared at each other. Distantly, Katara was aware of Azula's almost-feral smile, and Ozai's genuine intrigue. But then Zuko was licking soup off his lip and he said: "You made me miss my favorite."

Katara waved a ball of liquid above her hand. She smelled ginger and lime and spice. "Guess you'd better come and get some, then."

He made a noise that sounded like his old self -- frustration, fury, power -- and he was charging her and she swung for his feet. But he was fast and he was running on the table knocking plates left and right and he jumped and he had her by the wrists so the soup spilled all over them and he said: "It's all over you."

"Yeah, you too," Katara said, and reached for his neck. And tried to bend the blood in there briefly, just to remind him she could. And felt a well of pain expand from her spine to her head. The room brightened painfully. Zuko seemed to glow. _The new moon. The healing. The starving. Holding everything back. It's too much._

"Katara-"

"It's too much…" The floor rose to meet her.

_"Katara!"_

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: This chapter was a long time in coming, mostly because figuring out what I wanted to do next was so hard. But then I thought about it some more, and I think I have a clearer idea of where things are going. Cross your fingers for me.**

**Thanks: To Arch-nsha for fresh art, and to all of you for your reviews! I'm sorry to make you wait!**

* * *

Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly. - _Horace_

* * *

In Katara's dream, Gran-Gran stood there watching_. _And Katara looked around at the tent but saw only white, wondered why the blizzard felt so warm and soft and not at all lethal, why the ache was in her bones and her head and why her body didn't shiver. "Gran-Gran…?"

_Yes,_ Gran-Gran said. But then Gran-Gran seemed to split and now there were two of her and one opened Katara's slackened mouth and the other put something sweet inside. _Eat this. You'll feel better._

"It's just that time," she tried to say. Her tongue slid over honey and dough and something bitter buried deep inside. Her eyes drifted shut.

_Yes. It caught up with you, didn't it?_

Katara nodded. "I thought it wasn't coming, but…" Her eyes fell closed.

_You're young. Sleep now._

* * *

"Long ago, in the village of Jang Hui, there lived a woman of surpassing grace and kindness known for her skills as a healer-Are you waking up?"

Katara blinked her sticky eyes open. Her mouth tasted sweet. She had no idea why. The ache -- it was all over, from her head to her knees -- she recognized. Zuko had a scroll across his lap. She recognized the portrait of the woman across his left knee: "That's the Painted Lady."

"So it is," said Li or Lo. She shuffled to one side of the bed. Her sister appeared at the other side. "Zuko has been re-discovering Fire Nation lore."

A very distant, almost-fogged-in part of Katara's mind noted that they had dropped the word "prince" from his name. She nodded. Her throat hurt. "I'm-"

"-thirsty?" Li or Lo asked. One of the ancient women poured a cup of pink tea and handed it to Katara. "Drink your tea," one twin said. "It will replenish the blood in your body," said the other.

Katara frowned. "The blood…" A resonant pain twinged in her back. Heat rushed to her face. She had lost control of the bloodbending to keep her cycle at bay. And she had been asleep. And these women -- Fire Nation women, Azula's teachers, _the enemy_ -- had been looking after her. Blood pounded in her face. "Oh." She quickly buried her face in her teacup. The brew was bitter and spicy at once, the flavors softened only by the addition what she guessed was honey and yuzu juice.

"Rest now," one of the old women said. "Princess Azula has work for you," said the other. "And you have kept her waiting for two days already," said the first. Together, the two old women drifted to a table near the door where a Pai Sho game sat abandoned. They gestured to a guard standing watch at the door. The woman stepped forward, bent down, listened to an order, and opened the door to say something.

"This is really weird," Katara murmured, satisfied the old ladies couldn't hear her. "Why aren't they hurting us?"

"We're being used." Zuko sighed and pushed himself back in his chair.

"Well, I'm tired of being used."

Zuko sent her a frown. He turned fractionally and lowered his voice. "We have to go along with it for now," he whispered. "At least until you're better."

"I've been resting for two whole days! I'm fine!"

"You're _not_ fine. I _know_ you. So stop acting like everything's okay when it's not." Before she could protest, he had clenched his fists on his knees and leaned forward. "I thought I really hurt you, that time. I thought you were done."

She pulled away and stared at her tea. "I tried to do too much, okay? It's not my fault they starved me and kept me locked up. And healing you took a lot out of me. And on top of fancy bending-"

"What fancy bending?"

Katara pursed her lips. She looked at Li and Lo. The two women each stared at the Pai Sho board -- Katara guessed they were plotting their next move. She sighed and lowered her voice still further. "I had to learn how to control my bloodbending. So I decided to practice on myself."

Zuko's good eye went dangerously wide. "You _what?_" The scroll fell from his lap. "Are you _insane? _That's-"

"Is something wrong, Zuko?" one of the old women asked, pitching her voice across the room.

"No," Katara said brightly. "I'd just like to use the bathroom, please."

Li or Lo signaled the guard. The other woman stepped forward, crossed to Katara, and Belatedly, Katara looked down at herself. They had even changed her clothes, how humiliating -- now she wore a sort of thin wraparound dress. And her necklace was gone. "My-"

"It's okay. I have it." Zuko reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace. "I thought... I thought someone might take it."

"So you took it first?"

"I didn't _steal_ it; I was just _taking care of _it-" Zuko's lips clamped shut. He sighed. "Just put it back on." He held out the pendant. "I took it when you fell. I caught you and it was right there, so…" He shrugged.

Katara nodded and took the pendant. "Thanks, I guess." She pushed her hair aside -- there was so much of it now -- and tried clasping the necklace. Her fingers didn't want to work. She blew at her bangs.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I just- There." She let her hair fall and turned around. The guard stood at the arch leading to the washroom. She jerked a thumb backward. Katara sighed and looked at Zuko. "Excuse me."

"Oh. Right." He backed away. She slid her feet out of bed and touched the floor carefully. She pushed herself to her feet and felt rather than saw Zuko's presence at her elbow.

"I'm not going to fall," she said. "I'm okay."

"They've been sedating you," he whispered. "Be careful."

She nodded, took one step forward, then another. Her head felt very empty, suddenly. Had she really not eaten for two days? She wanted to bathe and sleep. Taking a deep breath and blinking hard, she put one foot in front of the other and made it to the guard. "No bending," the guard said.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Katara said, and just made it to the toilet before she heaved up whatever was left in her stomach of that foul tea. She moved slowly from toilet to sink, paused to swish out her mouth, then found new wrappings beside an assortment of odd little spherical sponges.

"They're for…you know," the guard said. Katara's face must have registered her horror, because the guard added: "Everyone uses them. They're sea sponges. They used to be alive."

"That's disgusting."

"Not as disgusting as wrapping a bunch of dirty rags around yourself," the guard said.

It was times like this that Katara really missed having a mom. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a sponge and went behind a screen. When she emerged, she kept her chin in the air and made no eye contact with the guard. And she was glad of her stance, because it meant she had her shoulders back when she saw Azula.

"Oh, hello," Azula said. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back. "Li and Lo informed me that you were awake. That's good. You have work to do."

"She's not well," Zuko said.

"This part of the plan doesn't exactly entail a lot of hard labor," Azula said, rolling her eyes. She nodded at the bed. "Go on. Sit down. I'm feeling generous."

Katara stepped around her and climbed under the covers. "What do you want?"

Azula smiled. "I want you to write a letter to your friend the Avatar and tell him you're sorry and you were wrong and you want to come home."

"I _didn't do anything._ He _didn't_ send me away. I left on my own."

"Oh, I believe that you left on your own," Azula said, pacing the length of the bed. "I even believe that you were a distraction to his larger plan. But I don't believe you told us everything." She broke step and her eyes narrowed. "You're here for another reason."

Katara froze. _She knows! She figured it out!_ "We're trying to find Mom," Zuko said, before she could speak.

"And I wanted to help," Katara said. "I lost my own mom. I know how it feels-"

"Oh, spare me," Azula said. "You left the Avatar behind? When he needs you most?" She arched an eyebrow at Zuko. "Did you honestly wake up one morning and decide that an impromptu family reunion was more important than your newly-discovered hatred for your own country?"

Zuko's fingers had curled into fists. "I don't hate this country."

"No, you just hate everything it stands for -- everything our family has worked for generations to build and maintain." Azula turned on her heel. "You're only digging the hole deeper by lying, Zuko. Don't think for a second that I don't know the real reason you're here. As usual, you gave everything away the moment things got rough." She turned back to them and made her voice higher: _"Oh please don't hurt her! It's me you want!"_ She laughed. "And that pitiful fight you staged at dinner -- did you honestly think I wouldn't see right through it?"

Katara's tenuous grip on her temper started slipping. "Why don't you quit all this hinting around and say it? Why do you think we're here?"

"Oh, that's easy," Azula said. "You broke the Avatar's heart."

For just the span of a breath, Katara's heart turned to a lump of ice inside her. _Even crazy princesses with delusions of grandeur have to get it right, sometimes. _ "The two of you weren't looking for our mother," Azula continued. "You were too busy feathering that scandalous little lovenest in the _Oyster District._"

Katara's jaw fell open. _"Lovenest?"_ She blinked. _Okay, I take it back. She's not that smart. _

"The Dai Li examined every detail of the Blue Sparrowkeet," Azula said. "And I was very interested to learn about your _one room_ apartment."

Zuko was up and out of his chair. He had his fists up. In his blind spot, Li and Lo moved their arms. Katara saw the beginnings of flame. "You-"

"No!" Katara leaned over and grabbed for him awkwardly. She half-stumbled out of the bed. "It's okay!" She found herself bringing his arms down from behind. Katara peeked out from behind him and tried giving Azula a sheepish smile. _What did Iroh say about letting Azula deceive herself? _"You got us."

Zuko turned. "What?"

"She figured it out, Zuko," Katara said, staring into his eyes. "She knows we ran away." She swallowed. "You know, so we wouldn't be hurting Aang's feelings any more?"

He blinked. Embarrassed color came up his neck all the way to his hairline. "Oh. Yes. Right."

Katara faced Azula. "And we wanted to find your mom, so we could, um…"

"Get her blessing," Zuko said. He turned to Azula. Katara was distantly aware of his arm suddenly around her shoulders, tugging her to him. "I wanted Mom to meet her. That's all. Nothing else."

"We thought we could find her if we started asking around the capitol," Katara said. She was gripping the back of Zuko's shirt. She had a feeling she might crumple to the floor, otherwise. Where were all these lies coming from? They kept popping up like mushrooms. "And we did need money-"

"What, was stealing not good enough for you, any more?" Azula asked.

"Katara said it was wrong," Zuko said. "She's been…so good for me."

"I'm a reformer," Katara said.

"A reformer who blew up a munitions depot," Azula said.

"She was indulging me," Zuko said.

"Well, you _did_ buy me dinner," Katara said, as sweetly as she could manage. "It was only fair."

Zuko was hugging her. "Isn't she the best?"

Azula looked at once disgusted and triumphant. "Well. It's nice to know that my powers of deduction haven't failed me. Now, if you can manage to pry yourselves off each other, get to work on a letter to the Avatar. And keep in mind that you're being watched."

"We don't even know where the others are," Katara said. "How could we send them a letter?"

"It will be posted in every Pai Sho parlor and seedy teahouse from here to Chameleon Bay," Azula said. "I'm sure Uncle will find it soon enough."

"Well, we'd better get to work," Zuko said. He moved and suddenly Katara was up off her feet and watching Azula from over Zuko's shoulder. "And you should have some lunch…Sweetness."

Katara resisted the urge to try kicking him. "Oh, Sparky," she gushed. She pasted on her biggest, fakest smile and stretched it so broadly it hurt. "You're always thinking of me."

"I can't help it," Zuko said.

"_I_ can't help wondering what Mai will think," Azula said. Katara watched a smile slowly unfurling across Azula's face. "I'll have to tell her you've moved on."

Zuko's grip on Katara stiffened. He paused. "Please do," he said in a rough voice. "I have a letter to write."

* * *

Lunch interrupted their letter-writing, however. No sooner had Zuko gently deposited her back on the covers when more people arrived, bearing trays. Zuko made a big show of tucking her in and fluffing up her pillows -- he was good at staying in character -- before finally allowing her to eat. Katara uncovered her dish expecting yet another formal gastronomic horror, and was pleasantly surprised to find a stew overflowing with thick slices of seaweed and tiny, perfect dumplings. Sitting beside her bowl was another bowl of rice, and a little plate with a single bun shaped like a moon-peach on it.

"Eat that last," Zuko said.

"I know I should eat it last, it's dessert-"

"It's medicine," Zuko said. "It's what they've been feeding you to keep you asleep. So just put something else in your stomach first."

Katara stared at the innocent-looking bun. She carefully pushed it to one edge of her tray and began picking at her dumplings. "Thanks."

"It's okay." He chewed and swallowed. He stared into his bowl. "We have to stop fighting."

Katara nodded. She looked over at Li and Lo. The two women were slurping away at their soup. "You're right," she said quietly. "It won't be very believable-"

"No, I mean _for real._" His voice came out tight and terse. "We get stupid when we fight, and it has to stop." His eyes came up. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You didn't-"

"I don't even want to worry about _maybe_ hurting you. Again. So we have to start… I don't know, doing something that's not fighting."

Katara chewed a piece of seaweed. "Well, there's always figuring out a way to free Longshot and Smellerbee…"

Zuko's chopsticks clattered into his bowl. "You can't be serious."

She leaned over to him but kept her voice down. "We might find the Mechanist! And it's our fault they're in prison!" She was about to remind him rather strenuously that they had a mission to finish, when she saw the way his hand clenched around the bowl and took a deep breath. "Okay. If you don't want to fight, we won't. But that doesn't change the fact that we have a job to do."

"That's right," Zuko said, putting his bowl aside and standing. He retrieved writing materials from the other bed where a guard had set them down. "We have a letter to write."

"Zuko-"

"Move."

_"Excuse me?" _

He placed the paper, ink stone, and brush on the bed, then picked her tray up and moved it to her right. Frowning, she followed it -- and promptly goggled when Zuko sat himself down on the other side of the bed and abruptly yanked the mosquito netting closed around them. Now they sat surrounded by a thin veil of netting, and the bed felt much, much smaller. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm writing a letter." He picked up his own tray, carefully placed his bowls on the floor, and pulled tray, paper, and writing materials over his lap. He smoothed the paper flat. He picked up a brush and tapped it against his teeth. "Hmmm…"

"Zuko, get off of this bed right now-"

"Sweetness," he said, blinking his mocking eyes wide, "you _wound_ me."

She found herself leaning closer. "I _will_ wound you if you don't do what I say-"

"No," Zuko said. He inclined his mouth near her ear. She tried to move but his arm had come up around her shoulders. "You're the one who told Azula that stupid lie and you're the one who's bringing Mai's wrath down on our heads." His breath tickled. "So you're going to get better, and you're going to help me with this letter, and we're going to get out of here before this whole thing blows up in our faces."

It was the necklace all over again. Katara was tempted to bend her soup into his lap and freeze it there. But instead, she murmured: "Did you act this way with your _real_ girlfriend?"

"No," Zuko said, and he loosened his grip. "Things were…different."

"Well you'd better be twice as nice to me as you were to her," Katara said. "Got it?"

"Got it."

"Seriously. I mean it. I say _tea_, you say _how hot?_"

He gave her a rather wicked look. "Now I know why all the men in your village left." One corner of his mouth tugged up. "Or is that just the new moon talking?"

Her face flamed. Katara flopped over on her right side and faced the wall. Soup sloshed out of her bowl and onto the tray, but she didn't even bother bending it back in. "I'm taking a nap."

"You do that," Zuko said. "Have a nice rest. Darling."

"…I _hate_ you."

For some reason, Zuko sighed. "Well, I don't hate you. And I wish you would not hate me, too."

* * *

Katara did sleep. She was tired, and her body still ached, and the sound of a wet brush drawn over parchment was strangely soothing. She was about to ask him what he was writing -- doubtless he had signed it "Zuko and Katara," not "Katara and Zuko," like he should have -- when her eyes dropped shut. When they opened again the light had changed and the soup things were gone and Zuko's voice was even tighter and more pained than before, and he was no longer on the bed.

"Mai, please, I didn't meant to hurt-"

"Well, you did. You left me a _note._ A _note_, Zuko. You couldn't even say the words to my face."

"I didn't know how-"

"Oh, but you had the courage to face your dad? After what he did to you?"

"That's different!" Zuko sat down. His weight made a dip in the mattress. Katara heard a deep sigh. "I had to face him. What he's doing to this country is wrong. The Avatar is the greatest hope this world has. And Aang's destiny is tied to mine -- it always has been."

"That's rich," she said roughly. "First you betray me, then your country, and now you've betrayed the Avatar. What's _wrong_ with you, Zuko?"

"It's not betrayal," Zuko said. "I don't know how to make you see it, but-"

"I just hope _she_ sees you for what you really are, someday," Mai said. "You're going to abandon her just like you abandoned me, the Fire Nation, and the Avatar."

Katara heard footsteps and a slamming door. She kept her eyes tightly shut. Zuko deserved his privacy. Maybe if she kept pretending to sleep, it would be okay. But naturally, because she was trying very hard to be quiet and still, and because some of Sokka's luck must have rubbed off on her, she inhaled a tiny, downy feather from a leak in her pillow, and sneezed. Loudly. She froze. Slowly slitting her eyes open, she exaggerated a yawn and rolled over. "Gosh, I just hate that," she said. "You know, when you sneeze yourself awake? It's so annoying."

Zuko's palm met his face. "You heard all that."

"Heard all what? I've been asleep this whole-"

"Oh, be quiet. You're just lucky she didn't pin you to the bed." Zuko pinked just then. "I mean, that she didn't, you know, shoot senbon at you."

"I knew what you meant the first time. And that girl couldn't wrestle me if she tried. I could take her without bending."

Zuko seemed bizarrely delighted by this thought. "Oh?"

"Come on, Zuko. She may be good at throwing things, but she didn't grow up with Sokka."

Zuko smiled somewhat dreamily. "I guess you could, you know, pull her hair…"

"How old do you think I am? Four? I'd punch her in her stupid Fire Nation face." Now it was Katara's turn to smile. She pitched her voice lower. "When this is all over, I'm _so_ gonna take her down. Her and the circus freak both. We need a rematch."

Zuko turned. "You fought them?"

"Oh yeah. A bunch of times. I even froze Ty Lee in some mud!"

"That sounds…very dirty."

"No, it wasn't. One time Toph and I got into a mudfight and that was way worse. I was just covered in it. It was all in my hair and everything, and-"

"Let's look at the letter," Zuko said, sitting back and pulling the tray into his lap. On it was a sheet peppered with crabbed, messy script.

Katara squinted at it. "Wow. Your handwriting is terrible."

"I didn't have that much space to work in!"

"Well, it's not my fault you invited yourself into my-" Katara clapped a hand over her mouth. For what seemed the hundredth time that day, she felt blood pulsing in her face. She took a deep breath. "It's not my fault you _colonized my space._"

"Well, I'm from the Fire Nation. We colonize."

"Technically I don't think you're even part of the Fire Nation," Katara said, lifting her chin. "They did banish you. Twice. Well, you left. The point is your citizenship is probably revoked. Not that it's a big loss."

"Just look at the letter…"

Katara huffed and leaned over to look at the letter. Zuko seemed to freeze. The page read:

_Dear Uncle,_

_I hope you are doing well. Katara and I are with Dad. Everything is fine, but we would like to come home. Could you pick us up?_

_Sincerely, _

_Zuko._

"Aww," Katara said. "That's really cute."

"It is not."

"No, it really is. And it won't work at all."

"No? Why not?" Zuko folded his arms.

Katara eyed Li and Lo. The old women were staring right back at her and a momentary burst of fear trickled through her veins. She forced a smile and turned back to Zuko. "First, how is Iroh supposed to know it's really from you? You have to add something that only he would know. Otherwise he'll just think it's a trap, which it probably is. As if you telling him where we are wouldn't tip him off already. Do you really think Azula will let you get away with a letter like this?" Zuko simply stared at her. She rolled her eyes. "Here, let me try." She grabbed the tray and brush, flipping Zuko's letter over and starting her own.

_Dear Pops and Snoozles,_

_Sparky and I are okay, but we really miss you. _

"Oh, I see," Zuko said. He twisted around to watch her better. He kept his voice low. "You have to tell them where we are."

"Hmm…"

_For a while, we've been trying to find Sparky's mother. We worked at a teahouse, hoping to find clues. Then_-

"No, wait, tell them more," Zuko said. He leaned in closer. "This is our chance to let them know about everything that happened."

"Right," Katara said. Maybe she could use the letter to tell them about the others -- Sokka wouldn't just let the last remaining Freedom Fighters rot in prison, not when he had to see the Duke's face every day at breakfast.

_Then we met up with some old friends from Lake Laogai. We wished they could stay, but they got locked into a new job. _

"We have to tell them about Azula, too-"

"I'm getting to that part!" She pursed her lips, then grinned. Toph would be very happy that her nicknames for Azula and her little girlfriends had come in so handy.

_My temper is stretched about as far as it can go. Sparky is needling me as usual. It's driving me crazy._

Zuko's good eyebrow lifted. "How does that help?"

"Look at it again."

He frowned. "I don't needle you, and I don't drive you crazy, but…oh. _Oh._" Suddenly his arm was around her shoulders. "You're a genius," he said in her ear.

"One does one's best."

Zuko's arm didn't leave. "Now tell them about us."

"What?"

"They have to know," he said in her ear. "We've told a lot of lies so far and we have to update them on every single one."

Katara's stomach curdled at the thought of her dad and Sokka hearing what she'd told Azula. She didn't even want to imagine what Aang would say. She was suddenly very conscious of how it all must look to Li and Lo: a boy and girl stretched out beside each other, whispering and smiling. She had the sudden urge to crawl under the covers. "Um…"

Zuko grabbed the brush and wrote: _However, he makes up for it by buying me dinner and keeping me safe from other boys. He can be a little jealous, sometimes. _

"I'll bet you are the jealous type," Katara said quietly.

"You have no idea."

Zuko continued writing. _I know we set out to look for Sparky's mother, but we haven't found her, yet, and we're worried about how Twinkletoes is doing. We never meant to hurt his feelings. Can you meet us?_

"Give him a specific date and time," Katara said. "Maybe a week from now? That gives him time to get the message." She lowered her voice still further. "And it gives us time to do our thing."

"A _week?_ That's not long enough."

"Then I guess we'd better start tonight."

"Absolutely not. You're not well. You've lost a lot of…strength." His mouth made a funny line and he looked over her shoulder.

Katara decided to ignore her blush, this time. If she couldn't even handle a little embarrassment, then she couldn't possibly hope to succeed at this mission. Besides, if Zuko insisted on making everything his business, then he would just have to put up with every nasty detail she felt like sharing. "Hey. Zuko. I'm okay." She held up a finger. "Better this than the alternative."

"Right…" His good ear had pinked significantly.

Her eyebrows lifted and she held up her hands. "Not that I'm that kind of girl! And saving the world hasn't exactly left a lot of time for that kind of thing! Or anything else, for that matter!"

Zuko's embarrassment turned to suspicion. "You're joking."

"Well, some of us don't exactly have big palaces where we can spend all day with our girlfriends. Boyfriends. Whatever." She crossed her arms.

"…So, you've never even-"

"No, okay? Can we stop talking about it?" She hugged her knees. "This is so humiliating," she muttered. "My first boyfriend isn't even _real_."

Zuko was suddenly a very warm presence at her side. "I just thought, with the way Haru looks at you-"

"Haru doesn't _look at_ me."

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Fine. If you say so. But Jet-"

"Jet was just trying to worm his way into my heart by sucking up to me, so I would let him get away with his stupid Freedom Fighter plans. And it almost worked. I was such a fool..."

On her shoulder, his fingers sort of twitched. "You can't be more of a fool than me."

"Well, _that's_ true."

"I'll try to be good," Zuko said. "At being your, um, you know."

"My-"

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "I'll try my best."

"Thanks." She looked at her toes. "Me too." She wiggled them. "I'm sorry I got Mai mad at you."

He nodded. "Thanks."

"I can see why you like her. She's really your type."

"I have a type?" Zuko sounded faintly alarmed.

"Sure. I mean, she's tall and gloomy and talented, and you're tall and gloomy and talented. Just at different stuff." Katara grinned. "I'll bet the two of you even take the same shoe size!"

"…Very funny."

"Just think! The two of you could share a whole closet!"

"Says the girl who stole my cloak!"

"You stole my necklace! Twice!"

Zuko's face met his palm. He leaned over and wrote on the letter: _We will be at a teahouse called the Blue Sparrowkeet one week from today, waiting for you._

"Love, Sweetness and Sparky," Katara said.

"The letter's from you. Only you should sign."

"No, it's supposed to be from both of us. We say 'we' all the way through."

"I don't sign my letters _love._"

"Well, I do." Katara snatched the brush away and quickly wrote the closing. She laid the brush down on its stone. She waved at the guard. "Um, hello? We're done now." The guard retrieved the letter. After a short conversation with Li and Lo, she left. Katara sighed. "So. What now?"

Zuko seemed equally as perplexed. He looked around the room. Li and Lo were deeply engrossed in their Pai Sho game. "Um…" His gaze fell to the floor.

Katara looked at the scroll that had fallen earlier. "You wanted to learn more about the Painted Lady?"

As though suddenly remembering that it had fallen, Zuko leaned down and picked it up. He rolled it back up. "Right."

"Can I see?"

"Um, sure." He handed it to her, then settled back stiffly against the pillows. Katara unrolled the scroll. She frowned. "These characters don't make any sense."

"Oh," Zuko said, blinking. "It's classical script. It's what all official Fire Nation documents are in. Before the islands unified, they all wrote things differently. Then they had to decide on a single script. They just chose the most formal one. I had to learn it."

"But Fire Nation wanted posters don't look like this."

"No. We only use this kind of script for deeds of trust and marriage records, or old official histories."

"…So your people can't even read the piece of paper that says they own their own land?"

Zuko's good ear colored faintly. "…I guess not."

Katara scowled at him and made her voice a whisper. "If you ever get to be Fire Lord, there had better be some serious changes around here." Huffing, she turned again to the scroll. She could pick out the odd word here or there -- some of them were still common -- but the order seemed all mixed up. "Did your people really talk like this back then?"

"I don't know!"

She frowned at the scroll. "What's this word?"

"Alms. It means charity."

"I _know_ what it means, Zuko." She jabbed a finger elsewhere on the scroll. "What about that one?"

"Ill-humored," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Was that a joke?"

He sighed air through his teeth. "No." Katara turned her attention to the scroll. The calligraphy was too fancy -- all flourishes that made her eyes hurt. She found herself reading only for the pictures: the Painted Lady, then a beautiful woman who was clearly the Painted Lady in her human form, a house on the river, a rather sour-looking man.

"I could read it to you," Zuko said. "If you want."

"You want to _read me a story?_"

He threw his hands in the air. "Forget it."

"I'm not a little girl, you know. I can read by myself."

"Not when you don't know the characters!"

"I have the pictures," Katara said loftily. "I can make up my own story." She unrolled the scroll further. "That's the Painted Lady, and there she is at home, and that's her husband, and he's clearly not as charitable as she is."

"Oh? How can you tell?"

"He has a mustache. That's never good."

"Haru has a mustache."

"You know what I mean." She pointed. "There's the Painted Lady healing people, and when she comes home her husband gets all mad about it because she's stealing all their food and medicine to give away to other people."

"…Maybe he's just worried about her going outside alone."

"Maybe he's a moron." Katara raised her chin and looked further along the scroll. "See? He tried reporting her to his family! He _ran home to his mom._ What a wuss."

Zuko said nothing, only peered at the scroll. "Well? Are you going to finish it?"

Katara unwrapped more of the scroll. She pointed to a picture of a disagreement between the Painted Lady and her husband. The Painted Lady pointed out the door. "That's her showing him who's boss." Her finger ran over dry parchment and old ink. "And look, the whole town is coming to help!" She unrolled until almost the end. "There! They ran him out. That'll teach him." She folded her arms. "So? Did I get it right?"

Zuko began rolling the scroll back up. "Yes."

"I knew it!" She wiggled her toes. "What's next?"

"Um… There's one about the first Agni Kai."

"The first what, now?"

"It's a kind of duel," Zuko said. "It's how we settle arguments, sometimes."

Katara's eyebrows rose. "Like when we came here in the first place?"

"Kind of. But with firebending. And no other weapons. And a gong."

"There's a _gong?_"

"And special armbands."

"Do you also wear makeup?"

"No! We don't even wear shirts!"

"Oh, so you've been in one?"

He blinked. "Two," he said. "I've been in two." He reached over to a pile of scrolls sitting on a small table between the bed and the chair and retrieved one. He began unrolling it. It was difficult with one hand; Katara helped pull it taut. The pictures showed to men in a rough clearing surrounded by greenery. Fire burst from their fists and feet. Their clothes were a little strange, just pants and no shoes. And off in one corner, hidden behind a tree, was a woman watching them.

"Who's that?"

"That's, uh, the girl they're both fighting over."

"Ooh, the plot thickens."

Zuko smiled. "There are a lot of different versions of the legend," he said. "Every island says they started the tradition. But most of them say it began with a love triangle."

Katara leaned over him. "Let's see how special this girl really was." She began pushing at the scroll.

"We should start at the beginning," Zuko said. He sounded uncomfortable. Katara wondered if her hair itched him -- it was sort of all in his face.

She pulled away. "Okay. Sorry. You read it."

Zuko spread the scroll over both their laps. He cleared his throat. _"Long ago, before the islands became a nation, two men from the big island fell in love with the same woman. Their names were Agni and Kai, and the woman they loved was named Kuma."_

Katara knew that name from somewhere. At the moment, though, she couldn't quite remember where, and Zuko was still talking: _"Kuma was gentle and beautiful and strong. She was useful to her whole family, and a powerful bender. No matter what Agni or Kai did to impress her, she could do it twice as well. This was the source of their love for her, but also the source of their frustration. They tried and tried to find a way to make her notice them above all others. They climbed volcanoes. They dived for pearls. They fished for mighty leopard-sharks and even quested for dragons. But Kuma was not to be easily swayed, and she told Agni and Kai that despite their feats of prowess, she favored them both equally. _

_"I have no need for sharkskin leather or dragon-scales or pearls," she said. "Why should my husband climb a volcano to shout his love for me, when he could simply tell me himself?"_

"Oh, I get it," Katara said. "She just wanted someone to stay at home and help."

"I guess so," Zuko said. "Maybe they were both good choices."

"If that's what you like," Katara said. "Then what happened?"

Zuko cleared his throat and continued reading: _"Despairing, Agni and Kai found the Old Man who lived far outside the village, and asked him for help. 'How can we prove ourselves worthy?' they asked. The Old Man answered: 'You cannot. One of you must leave this island to seek his fortune, while the other stays behind to claim the girl.'"_

Katara sputtered. "Is that _your uncle's_ voice?"

"…Maybe." Zuko seemed to shrink inside his collar. "I know I'm no good at impressions…"

"You're terrible. But that's what makes it funny."

Rolling his eyes, Zuko continued. _"But neither Agni nor Kai would leave. 'Why should we abandon our home?' they demanded. 'Each of us was born here. Each of us will die here.'_

_"'So be it,' said the Old Man, but they did not know what he meant. Then the Old Man pushed them from his house, saying that the hour was late. Agni and Kai began the journey to their village, grumbling all the way. _

_"'It is your fault,' each said to the other. 'You are too selfish to admit that I am the better suitor, and that you should leave the island.'_

_"Their voices grew louder and louder. Kai shoved Agni off the road. Agni sat up and bent fire at Kai. They began fighting. In bending, as in their love for the girl, they were equally matched. Their fury made them strong. Smoke rose from the forest where they battled. Seeing the smoke, Kuma fetched water and ran for the forest. There she found her two suitors locked in combat. Their hands glowed with fire and they gripped one another by the arms. As she watched, she saw the fire burn their flesh black in thick rings. Finally, howling in pain, they let one another go. As one, they bent fire at each other. So distracted were they by their battle that they failed to see Kuma running to stop them. The girl caught both blasts of fire, and fell._

_"'What have we done?' Kai asked Agni. 'We have destroyed that which was most precious to us,' Agni answered. _

_"Agni and Kai wept for their beloved Kuma. They wailed and tore their hair and streaked the ashes of their own bending across their faces. And the spirits -- who were more merciful then than they are now -- sent the Great Red Dragon, and he said in his great voice: 'WE SHARED OUR FIRE WITH YOU HUMANS THAT YOU MIGHT WARM YOURSELVES, NOT DESTROY THE BEST AMONG YOU. NOW WHEN YOU BEND FIRE AGAINST YOUR FELLOW MAN, YOU SHALL WEAR THE MARK OF YOUR SHAME AND FOLLY.'_

_"Agni and Kai were terrified, and they pressed their faces to the earth in reverence and shame. And the Great Red Dragon of the Eastern Sky, who had given the first people the breath of life and flame, blew his healing fire over the body of Kuma. Her ruined body stretched and glittered with new life. It turned blue. 'NOW YOU ARE THE GREAT BLUE DRAGON OF THE NORTHERN SKY,' he said. 'YOUR SACRIFICE WAS WORTHY -- NOW YOU MAY JOIN THE SPIRITS AND FLY AMONG THE STARS.'_

_"So two dragons flew away from the forest, one to the East and the rising sun, and the other to the North, where she still dances on the endless nights, bringing light and fire to those who have none. And Agni and Kai's scars never healed. When both men died the wounds were still just as black as they had been the day that they squandered their gift. And to this day, we wear the bands about our arms in battle to remind us of their foolishness."_

"The end," Zuko said.

Katara blinked. "But…what happened after? What about Agni and Kai? Did they ever find happiness?"

"I don't know. I doubt it."

"And what about Kuma? Couldn't they have just asked her what she wanted in a suitor?"

"They were stupid. That's kind of the whole point."

"And what about the Painted Lady? Did she ever find somebody new?"

"Um…no." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand. "Actually, her husband kind of came back and took his revenge. He drowned her in the river."

Katara's jaw dropped. "That's awful! Don't any Fire Nation legends have happy endings?"

"…Not really."

"It's no wonder this country is so messed up." She crossed her arms.

"I never really thought of that…"

"You don't think of very much, do you?"

"You can say that again!"

The guard had returned, and behind her stood Ty Lee -- on her hands. Balanced on each flexed foot was a steaming cup of tea. The girl walked forward carefully on her palms. "Um, Zuko, I kind of need help-"

Zuko retrieved the teacups. Ty Lee did an elegant fold of her legs over her head, then her head popped back up and she was standing, good as new. She tossed her braid. "I haven't served tea with my feet in a while, but I knew I could do it!"

"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked.

"I came to see what all the fuss was about," Ty Lee said. She did a sudden series of backflips toward the door, disappeared, then re-appeared with a little cart covered in bamboo steamer trays and teapots. "Also I was really, _really_ bored, so I ordered some tea."

Katara sat up. She was suddenly very conscious of Zuko's arm around her. If anything, it had gotten tighter. "You were _bored_?"

"Can't you see we're busy?" Zuko asked.

Ty Lee pouted. "But I brought you tea and goodies," she said, jutting her lower lip out. "Azula's in some big meeting and Mai is crying -- which is _your_ fault, Zuko -- and throwing things at the door when I knock on it." She winced. "So, here I am!"

Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ty Lee, we're very tired. Katara isn't feeling well-"

"Oh, yeah, I heard!" Ty Lee pursed her lips and gave a sympathetic rub of her tummy. "That's so embarrassing. And right when you were in the middle of impressing the Fire Lord, too!"

Katara frowned. "Impressing the Fire Lord?"

"He really liked your bending! Azula said so."

"Well, I didn't do it to impress him. I don't care what he thinks."

Ty Lee's mouth made a tiny "o" of surprise. "Well, you're really lucky he liked it," she said. "Otherwise you would be in _big_ trouble. You broke all his dishes! Those were antiques!"

"Well, boo-hoo-hoo," Katara said. "I don't care how old those dishes were. They were ugly and the food was terrible." She stuck her nose in the air.

"I wish _I _could bend, sometimes," Ty Lee said. "Well, I mean, I wish I could bend an element. I can bend myself pretty easily."

Zuko's palm connected with his face. "Let's just have some tea…"

"Oh right!" Suddenly Ty Lee was flitting around the room, serving them tea and arranging tiny treats on tiny plates. She handed Katara a plate full of steamed spider-crab dumplings and deep-fried penta-pus legs before folding herself -- literally -- into a chair and sipping her tea.

"So," Ty Lee said, "how did you two meet?"

Zuko choked on his dumpling. Tea sloshed out of his cup. Before he could do any further damage, Katara sat up and said: "Well, he came to my village looking for the Avatar."

"Ooh," Ty Lee said. "Was it love at first sight?"

_Oh, Mom, Yue, anybody who's listening, please help me right now._ "Um… Well, he had his armor on, so I couldn't see much of his face! Plus, he was sort of poking my brother with a stick."

"That wasn't very nice, Zuko," Ty Lee said.

Zuko nodded mutely. "But then he just kept hunting Aang, so we saw a lot more of him," Katara said.

Ty Lee got a very wicked look. "Was he hunting the Avatar, or hunting _you_?"

Katara's ears began to burn. "He was after Aang!"

"Mostly," Zuko said. "I, um, also had to give you back your necklace, that one time."

"You mean the time you tied me to a tree, or the time you sent a bounty hunter after me?"

"Wow, Zuko, you were trying really hard," Ty Lee said. "In a really creepy way, of course, but still. I wish a prince would send a bounty hunter after _me._" She sighed, then brightened and looked at Katara. "Hey, your brother is kind of a prince, right? He's the son of a chief!"

Zuko hung his head. "Can't you girls have your girl-talk somewhere else?"

Ty Lee clapped her hands. "That's a great idea! We'll go get our hair brushed!" She swiveled in her chair to look at Li and Lo. She pressed her hands together in a pleading posture. "It's okay if the prisoner and I go get our hair brushed, right? I won't let her escape, I promise!"

"It will be on your head if she does," one of the old women said. "So see that she doesn't," said the other.

Zuko leaned forward. "I didn't really mean-"

"No, I've been cooped up for too long," Katara said. She decided to take advantage of the situation, and turned to Zuko. "I think it will be good for me to learn my way around, don't you?"

He blinked. "Oh. Yes. That is a good idea."

"Besides, my hair really could use a good brushing."

"And a good washing," Ty Lee said. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Katara had begun to smell a set-up. She first suspected it when, at the door, Ty Lee gave her a sheepish smile and quickly jabbed her once in each shoulder, effectively disabling her arms. "Sorry," she said. "We can't have you bending, can we?" Katara took one glance over her shoulder at Zuko -- his obvious mortification did nothing to help her confidence -- before Ty Lee yanked her from the room and continued walking, prattling all the way about how busy Azula had been lately and how much better Katara looked in her Fire Nation clothes.

"Most of the time I just live at Mai's house, across the plaza," Ty Lee said, briefly walking on her hands. "But being Azula's friend does have its perks!"

Arms hanging limp at her sides, Katara could only nod. She did her best to memorize the path she and Ty Lee took from the infirmary. The other girl was leading her deeper and deeper into what appeared to be the royal apartments -- did Azula and Ozai sleep behind one of these doors? Where would they keep their secret battle plans?

"Here we are," Ty Lee said. The doors slid aside to reveal an immense black pool fed by fish-shaped fountains. A seat was carved into the pool's rim. The women waiting there, who had clearly been slacking off and chatting, immediately stood up and saluted.

"Miss Ty Lee," one said. "We were not expecting you."

"That's okay," she said. "We're here to get our hair brushed. And the prisoner needs her hair washed, too." Ty Lee wrinkled her nose. "Actually, I think a real bath is in order."

"Miss Ty Lee, the waterbender-"

"Oh, she won't bend!" Ty Lee turned to Katara. "Will you, Katara? We would all be in really big trouble if you did. And you'd probably get taken away, so you wouldn't be able to see Zuko, any more!"

"Ty Lee, I can't even move my arms," Katara said. "How could I possibly bend the water?"

"Oh! Right! I forgot. Oops." Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "Wow. I've really got to start writing things down." She pointed at the pool. "Well, we'd better get you cleaned up before your arms come back!"

Katara had thought that being scrubbed clean by a pair of servants was humiliating. She was wrong -- having her hair painstakingly combed and washed while Ty Lee asked inane questions about her relationship with Zuko was worse. The other girl's mind made leaps of logic just as improbable as her acrobatics: Ty Lee now had a whole theory going about Zuko and her necklace and how he had secretly always liked her, since the day he had first set eyes on her in her village.

"I mean, he probably hadn't seen a girl in forever, and he didn't know that Mai still liked him," she said, as a servant diligently filed away at a callus on her heel. "It's no wonder that he tied you to a tree! He probably wanted you all to himself!" Ty Lee sighed dreamily. "I bet he wanted to take you away on his ship so you could sail off into the sunset…"

"Um, I suppose that's possible…"

"So when did you know you liked him back?" Ty Lee asked.

Katara's face went hot. The women combing her hair tittered. "Um…" She licked her lips. "Um… It's hard to tell… I guess it happened sort of gradually, so I didn't really notice…"

"Did he tell you he liked you first, or was it the other way around?"

Why had she wasted all that time listening to Fire Nation folklore? She could have been plotting out her lie! Frantically, Katara tried to think up something reasonable: "Um, it just sort of came out."

"Is he as good a kisser as Mai says?"

Above her, the women had to suppress their snickers. Katara's ears burned. "Um, yes."

"Because Mai said she could feel it in her _toes_," Ty Lee said. "They used to be alone together _all the time._ She said he would get really, _really_ intense, and-"

"Ty _Lee!_" Katara noticed her hands making fists. She hated how shrill her voice had grown. "I don't think your friend would like you sharing all her secrets, do you?"

"Oh, right. I guess not." Ty Lee pitched her voice at the servants. "Why don't we give the prisoner's hair a trim, huh? She's really got a lot of split ends. And then add some, um, what's the word, levels…"

"Layers?"

"That's right! Layers! It will make her hair all pretty and foofy."

"Foofy?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, it'll make the curls come out," Ty Lee said. "And then we can do a rock sugar exfoliation!"

"Um, that sounds painful," Katara said. "And I'm already kind of aching all over."

Ty Lee cracked her knuckles. "Sounds like somebody needs a chi massage."

* * *

Ty Lee's plans for Katara took an absurd amount of time. Between the charcoal masks and the scrubs and the haircut and the massage -- Ty Lee insisted that walking on Katara's back would help her cramps, somehow -- Katara learned all about Ty Lee: how she had a whole pack of sisters who looked exactly like her, how Azula had "called" her into service, how she really liked animals and had even tried to be a vegetarian a few times, how she was surprised Azula didn't have a boyfriend yet. "She's so pretty," Ty Lee said. "And talented! And powerful! I guess boys just find her intimidating."

"Intimidating," Katara had said. "That must be it."

She had never been so grateful to get back to a sickroom. When she returned, the lamps were low and Li and Lo were snoring in their chairs. They were loud, wet, old lady snores. Katara winced. She doubted she would be getting much sleep. Tiptoeing toward her bed, she reached quietly to part the mosquito netting-

-and felt her wrist pulled back and up, pinned between her back and Zuko's front. "Oh," he said, "it's you."

"Let me go!"

"I thought you were Azula," he whispered. His grip slackened just a little.

"How could I possibly be Azula? We look completely different!" She stiffened. "Are you…Are you _sniffing_ me?"

"You smell different." He _was_ sniffing her. "Why do you smell different?"

"I had a bath," Katara said. "Ty Lee said I needed one. And then she had them scrub me with sugar-"

"Ty Lee covered you in sugar?" His voice was in her ear.

"Sugar and almond oil," Katara said, wondering why her voice had gotten so small. "And honey, I think."

"…Oh."

"She said it was good for the skin." She swallowed. "And then she said I needed a chi massage, of all things, and I was really scared because she's hurt me before-"

"Did she hurt you, this time?" Zuko's grip went tight. He turned her around to face him. He wove on his feet. Sweat made his hair stick to his temples. Heat came off him in waves. Even his fingers seemed hot on her arms.

"No," Katara said. "It was really confusing. She was actually nice. She knew how to make my back feel better." Katara frowned. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Zuko said, licking his lips.

"Because you look a little weird."

"I'm not weird. I'm normal. See?" He stepped back and promptly slipped, landed hard on his tailbone with his head against the opposite bed. "They may have poisoned my tea."

Panic spread through Katara's veins. She knelt down beside him. "What?"

"I think they set us up," he whispered, nodding over at Li and Lo. "They kept asking me about you."

"Ty Lee was asking _me_ about _you!_"

He nodded. "Azula must have told them to ask."

"So they could check our stories against each other," Katara said, hanging her head.

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said. "I told them…"

Her stomach flipped over. "_What_ did you tell them, Zuko?"

"I drank the tea and everything got really hot…" He looked at his lap. "I told them what you said to me when I joined your group…"

Katara bit her lip. "I'm sorry…" She tried catching his eye. "I was really angry and I said really mean things to you, and it was wrong-"

"You made me _sweat_-"

"I'm sorry-"

"I told them about the tree, and how you struggled and how you never gave up, no matter what I did-"

"Zuko, calm down, you're breathing too fast-"

"And the oasis, you were amazing at the oasis; I was so angry at you because you were just as good as me and I just wanted to defeat you, that time, I wanted to scare you, what's _wrong_ with me-"

"I _was_ scared; I was really scared you would hurt Aang-"

"Hurt _Aang?_" Zuko almost laughed. "I carried Aang on my back, like Toph. I made a fire and kept him warm." He sighed. "I'm sorry about your head."

"Huh?"

"Your head. And your wrists. All the places I hurt you, before. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Katara pursed her lips. "Well, it's not like you ever burned me-"

"I wouldn't burn you. _Ever._" He reached up and tucked hair behind her left ear. "I told them about the cave. How you touched my face. And your thumb."

"My…thumb?"

"It was right over my mouth. Just like this." And his hand was in her hair and his thumb was over her lips, keeping them sealed shut. "They asked me why I hadn't tried escaping and I said I'd promised to take care of you."

Katara gulped. She moved her face to get rid of his thumb and it landed near the corner of her mouth; his hand kept playing with her hair. "Did they ask you why you were really here?"

He nodded, tracing her ear now. His eyes seemed glassy, unfocused. She wondered what was in that tea. "I said Aang had always suspected us. I told them how he looked at me under Ba Sing Se."

"How did he look at you?"

"Like he'd caught me with my fingers in his custard tart."

Her face heated. "…Really?"

"Really." Zuko swallowed. His hand fell down to her necklace, played with the pendant. "You're younger than me, aren't you? A lot younger."

"I don't know…I'll be fifteen in the fall."

"Fifteen." He swallowed again. "Right."

"It's not that young. That's usually when we get betrothed."

Zuko shut his eyes tight. "Of course."

The saliva seemed to have evaporated from her throat. She felt the urge to chatter and had no idea why. "This was my grandmother's betrothal necklace. Master Pakku carved it for her."

His eyes opened. "I wrapped it in silk." His gaze seemed pinned to her neck. His fingers traced the ribbon. "I couldn't lose it. The scent, I mean."

"Do I really smell all that different?"

"Yes." He was touching her hair again. "And your hair is different. And your clothes. Everything. Only this is the same." His fingers returned to the necklace.

"You're different, too," Katara said. "You've really changed."

"I'm bad at being good," he said. "You should know."

She was uncertain whether he was reminding her that she of all people should know this was true, or whether he was warning her about something. "I do know," she said. She tried smiling. "I'm a fast learner."

"Yes," he said. "You've grown." He swallowed. "Your abilities. You're a lot stronger, now, than you were back then. That night."

It took her a moment to understand. "That was my first water whip. It was so clumsy…"

"Everyone's clumsy the first time." Zuko shut his eyes again, suddenly. He spoke with them closed. "We should be in bed, now."

"You're right, we should."

Neither of them moved. She bit her lip. "Do you need help standing?"

"…Maybe."

She stood and lowered her hand, but he came up with the slightest tug and he was looming over her, suddenly, rocking on his toes a little unsteadily, and she was gripping his shirt. And her mind chose this moment to remember what Ty Lee had said. Something about intensity. And kissing. And him. "I meant separately," he said.

_He's drugged. He's drugged. He doesn't know what he's saying. _"I know what you meant."

"I'll be right over there."

"I know." Katara blinked. "You should take off your-"

"Right." He stepped back and his hands were fussing at his belt, picking at the knot, slipping. "I'm dizzy."

"You should lie down."

"It's too hot…" He pulling at his clothes, tugging the tunic down, rolling it down one shoulder . Then the other. Now he was in his undershirt, half-peeled like an onion. He pulled at the fold in his undershirt but didn't undo it completely, just kept yanking until it was halfway off, covering his face, and he was stuck. "I'm stuck."

Katara blew air at her bangs, and helped him the rest of the way. Her fingers trailed down warm arms. He emerged from the cloth with messy hair, swallowing. This close she could see the way he needed a shave, the shadows on the collarbone. And she could see what she'd fixed: the ribs, his face. "Does it still hurt?"

"No."

"Well…that's good." She pulled her eyes away. "Well. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She parted the netting at her bed, turned. "You should take your boots off. That's what I was going to say. That you should take your boots off."

He nodded. "Right. My boots. I'll do that."

She nodded, then sat. She had kicked off her slippers pulled the curtains and rolled over when she felt the slightest pressure at his scalp. _How does he do that? How does he move without me hearing him?_ "You take this out," Zuko said, pulling the little hairpin free. "You take this out for sleeping." He was opening her hand with his fingers, putting the pin there for her to hold, folding her hand closed again.

"Thank you."

"And welcome. You're welcome, I mean. But welcome. To the palace. I didn't tell you, before."

"Thanks." She wormed under the covers, wondered why she couldn't say this to his face. "Mai was wrong, today. What she said about you was wrong."

He was pulling the sheet over her. "Thank you."

"I do see you for what you are. I've seen everything. I know all the bad things, already."

For just a second, he ran a finger over her exposed left ear. "Not all of them." He moved away. "Goodnight."

"…Goodnight."

And she heard him undoing his boots and sliding them off, heard the rustle of his sheets, heard his breathing slowly change after he rolled from side to side finding the right spot, and just as her eyes drifted closed she remembered where she had heard the name Kuma before.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: I DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FOR THE TIE-IN NOVELIZATION, WHATSOEVER. IF THE CONTENTS OF THIS STORY OR ANY OF MY OTHERS PREDICTED THE EVENTS OF THE FINALE IN ANY WAY, PLEASE KINDLY DO NOT INFORM ME OF THEM IN A REVIEW. THANK YOU. **

**Thanks: Irrel, OrePookPook, MouseThatRoared, H-Thar, Drisela, Katsari-chan, and Dailan, all of whom provided me with fresh art! Thanks, you guys!**

* * *

He only earns his life and his freedom who every day takes them by storm. –_Goethe_

* * *

After breakfast the next morning, they were given their own rooms. Neither Li no Lo said why, only that it was clear that Katara was feeling better and thus did not need time in the infirmary any longer. The two old women gave her the old teashop uniform back, then marched her and Zuko down a single flight of stairs and deeper inside the palace to a small wing behind three sets of doors which opened only when someone bent fire up a funny golden pipe shaped like a dragon. Even if Katara managed to sneak out, sneaking back in would still pose a problem.

The room itself was just as big as the one in Ba Sing Se -- from what Katara could tell in the sudden darkness. Katara had been expecting some sort of pallet and maybe a few rats. But no -- a big, fluffy bed sat lengthwise near the furthest wall. The bed was all, though: no mirror, no furniture or vases she might break and use later, no water, not even a plant. Not even a window. Just a bed. Or so her questing fingers told her. It was hard to know for sure without a lamp. And they hadn't provided any spark-rocks.

Katara turned around, picked her way carefully to the door, and thumped on it. "Hey! It's dark in here!"

"Light a candle," said one of the guards.

"There aren't any spark-rocks!" She banged the door again. "Not all of us are firebenders, you know!"

There was some grumbling outside the door. "Tough luck," a voice said.

"And what about a bathroom?" Katara asked, glad for the moment that the guards could not see her.

"Waterbenders don't get one," the voice said. "Princess Azula's orders."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…" Katara kicked the door, then promptly began hopping up and down on her other foot. She bellowed out of sheer frustration: "What am I supposed to do?"

"Quit complaining, and we'll be more inclined to let you out when you ask."

From the room to her right, Katara heard similar banging and shouting. Outside her door, there was muffled cursing. A moment later, she heard someone yell in an exasperated voice: "The waterbender is fine! Stop that racket!"

Zuko. You had to hand it to him: he really knew how to play his part. Of course he would be concerned! He was supposed to be her boyfriend! Distantly, Katara wished she were in a better position to milk this deception for all it was worth: if she weren't stuck in this stupid room, she'd have him running hither and yon fetching her things. Not that she'd have any idea what to ask for, but the part where she could order him around and he couldn't protest sounded like fun.

Maybe things were different in the Fire Nation, though. Everything about the place seemed upside-down and backwards, so relationships were probably strange, too. Katara considered it as she crawled along the floor feeling for cracks in the wall. Zuko had looked almost disappointed when she told him the standard betrothal age. Maybe things happened a lot later in the Fire Nation -- the female militia officers Katara had met didn't exactly seem matronly, but they weren't girls anymore, either. She wondered if they still lived at home.

Then again, Zuko had seemed strange in general, last night. At least, more strange than usual. The drugs had something to do with it, of course. But she wondered if maybe he had been hit a few too many times in the head, during their stint in prison. Zuko had a way of seeming strong even when he was being vulnerable: he could throw himself on his knees and then _demand_ to be taken away in chains, as though he still had some measure of control over the situation. It was unusual for him to be so helpless. Had the events of the past few days broken him, somehow? In the dark, Katara shook her head. Impossible. Zuko never gave up. You could count on that, like the sun or the tides or that serpent at the Pass.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Case in point, he too was checking the walls. Katara reached up and tapped the wall near where she'd heard the noise. Zuko tapped back. Katara squeezed herself along the wall and tapped again. This would be a lot easier if they had some sort of code. "I wish we had a code."

"What?" His voice came through muffled.

"A _code_," she said into the wall, cupping her hands around her mouth.

He said something that sounded vaguely like "follow me," and continued tapping gently along the wall. Katara followed, tapping too. She followed the noise over her bed and into a corner. Down near the floor, she heard Zuko tapping again. She lay down, then spied a tiny hole where the wall joined the floor by the golden glow coming through it. It vanished suddenly. "Hi," Zuko said.

Katara lay down on the floor with her legs under the bed and her face up against the wall. "Hi."

"…Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. There aren't any spark rocks, though. I'm in the dark."

There was a sound like a growl, and a brief flash of light. "I'll keep something burning for you."

"Thanks." She swallowed. "Hey, do you have a bathroom in there?"

"Why, don't you?"

"Um, no." She wriggled up against the wall. "I think that whole sabotaging-the-plumbing thing at that munitions depot might have something to do with it."

A muffled snort of laughter. "Yeah, maybe."

Katara pillowed her head on her arm. "Are you feeling better?"

"My head hurts a little, but that's all." She heard the groan of floorboards. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your wrist. I was holding onto it pretty hard."

"Oh, it's fine," Katara said. "I think your sister's personal scrubbers did more damage."

"Did they hurt you?"

"Just my pride," Katara said. "Ty Lee got me in the arms so I couldn't bend. Then she started asking me all about you while everyone was fussing over me. It was really embarrassing."

There was a sound like his forehead hitting the wall. "What did she ask?"

"Well..." Katara was glad of the wall separating them. "She wanted to know everything about _us_, you know? About you and me. Together."

"Together."

"Like, when things happened," Katara said. "She thinks you wanted to take me away on your ship."

There was a pause. "Doesn't she know what _waterbending_ means?"

Despite herself, Katara laughed. "I guess not. I could have-"

"Someone's coming." She heard him moving; a moment later she heard his door opening. Katara threw herself on the bed and tucked her knees up to her chest. She tried to look as defeated as possible. It wasn't hard, when her own door squealed open and Azula's shape filled it.

"There's someone who wants to see you," she said, and turned around.

Warily, Katara stepped forward into the light.

* * *

A handful of Dai Li marched them in special manacles down to a garden. Katara winced at the sunlight. She suddenly couldn't remember the last time she'd been outdoors. Had it really only been three or four days ago? She squinted. As they passed under a stone arch, she saw a pagoda and a pond framed by willows. Inside the structure sat Mai, Ty Lee, and a woman who looked something like Mai: tall, thin, with an angular face and shining black hair gathered away from it. The woman lowered her teacup, stood, and hurried down the pagoda's steps to toward them.

"Thank you, Princess Azula," she said, bowing low.

Azula inspected her fingernails. "You are welcome."

The woman rose. Her eyes fixed on Zuko and narrowed. She moved quickly and Katara heard the slap across his face before her mind truly comprehended it was happening. "You are a fool and a traitor and a heartless coward," she said. "You betrayed this country, broke my daughter's heart, and took up with this _waterbender_ when you could have been fulfilling your obligations to your people!"

Zuko looked away from her. "Don't you have anything to say to me?" Mai's mother asked.

Zuko's gaze swung on her slowly. "You're too concerned with your station," he said. "Mai doesn't know how to be happy, and it's your fault." He blinked. "And Ozai only sent your family to Omashu because he expected King Bumi to make your life miserable. It wasn't because he favored you."

Katara expected to see another slap, but it didn't come. Mai's mother paled down to the lips, then turned to Katara. _Oh, great. Zuko gets her boiling mad just in time for me to deal with her. Thanks a bunch, Zuko._ She did her best to hold the other woman's eyes with her own. "And you," the woman said. "You stole my baby, demanded a ransom, and refused to honor our bargain!"

Katara's chains rattled as she leaned forward. "_What?_ Has the Dai Li been scrambling your brain? We didn't _steal_ your baby at all. And it was _Mai_ who broke the deal -- she didn't care about getting her own brother back! And it was the _Avatar_ who _gave him back-_"

The slap came hard enough for Katara's teeth to click together. She stumbled to her right and knocked into Zuko. He hissed fire. "Careful, Zu-Zu," Azula said. "We wouldn't want to have to send you back to the tower, would we?"

Breathing hard, Zuko righted himself. From this close, Katara sensed the rage just under the surface; she saw his throat working. "Let us go back to our rooms."

"Oh, but you just got here." Azula nodded up at the pagoda. "We have another guest who is very interested in hearing about you. You'll make a good example for him, Zuko. I want squeamish little weaklings like him to know what we do to traitors."

Katara looked over at the pagoda again. A shadow moved and she saw a man's shape. He was a little smaller and darker than the average Fire Nation man, but he moved with efficiency and purpose. Katara's knees almost failed her. "Master Piandao is very eager to hear everything he can about you," Azula said.

"I'll bet," Katara murmured.

* * *

"Of course, she discussed with me her daughter's distress over the Prince's duplicity. Her anxiety over her daughter's broken heart moved me. And when the Madame Governor mentioned to me that she too was on her way to the capitol, I offered my services as an escort," Piandao said. "One can't be too careful these days."

Mai's mother sniffed. "Master Piandao is too modest," she said. "He _insisted _on attending me."

"I was only doing my duty as a fellow citizen," he said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "If the Governor himself cannot escort you, then a humble swordsman on his way to inspect his city house can at least volunteer his services."

"You have two houses?" Katara blurted, instantly sorry that she had revealed so much.

"Speak when you're spoken to," Mai's mother said.

"You're not my mother!"

"And thank the sages for that," Mai's mother said, lifting her chin. "I would have raised you with some respect."

"You would be dead," Zuko said in a hollow voice. He cleared his throat. "Katara's mother is dead. The Fire Nation killed her."

Silence. Ty Lee stared hard at her plate and even Mai looked away, as though trying very hard to seem distracted by turtleducks. Zuko turned to Katara. "Would you like another lotus seed bun?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

Zuko's chains rattled as he lifted a bun and dropped it on her plate. Katara took it between her fingers and began munching. Across the table from her, Piandao sat a little straighter in his seat. "To answer your question, I do have two houses. My great grandfather built one in the countryside for his wife. She had a delicate constitution and needed fresh air. My family has been adding to it ever since."

"Which means his city home is decrepit," Azula added.

Piandao sighed. "Sadly, the Princess is correct. I have been remiss in my duties. Now the place is crumbling, and I have to oversee the repairs." His eyes lifted, locked with Zuko's. "They should take quite some time."

"Renovations are the bane of my existence," Mai's mother said. "You wouldn't believe the trouble those earthbenders and their architecture gave us. The whole city was made of slides! _Slides!_"

"I liked the slides," Katara said tartly.

"You like anything slippery," Zuko said. Piandao fumbled his teacup, quickly caught it. "I mean, ice, water, custard," Zuko added. "Things like that."

"I suppose it's true," Katara said. She shot Mai her most smug look. "I like you, Zuko, and _you're_ a slippery character."

Silence, then Azula's sudden laughter. Beside her, Ty Lee tittered. Mai simply continued looking away. Her mother looked suitably scandalized. "Slippery," Azula said, smiling. "I'll have to tell Father about that one."

"Please do," Katara said. "I want everyone to know how I feel about Zuko, now." Her eyes slid over to Piandao. "Everyone should know."

Piandao swallowed. "This is quite the surprise," he said. "Waterbenders and firebenders working together-"

"-in the Oyster District, no less," Azula said. "It's all very sordid and disgusting. Isn't it, Zuko?"

Zuko's jaw set. He looked at a toucan-puff in a nearby tree. "I'm not ashamed of anything."

"I'm sure that attitude is why the Avatar banished you," Azula said. "You and his beloved waterbending teacher were carrying on right under his tiny little nose, and as usual you were too much of a coward to challenge him directly." Azula looked at Mai's mother. "My brother has a serious problem with authority. He can't seem to recognize who his superiors are or how to respect them."

Zuko turned to her, mouth open, but Katara said: "I beg to differ," in her most quelling voice. She draped herself on Zuko's stiff shoulder as much as the chains would allow. "You recognize who's the better bender between us, don't you, Sparky?"

"Sparky?" Piandao asked.

Mai spoke for the first time all afternoon: "Sickening, isn't it?"

"I think it's kind of sweet," Ty Lee murmured. "I mean, the nicknames and everything. My parents had nicknames for us."

"Only because they couldn't tell you apart," Mai said. "Didn't your mother sew your names into all your clothes just in case she ever had to check?"

Ty Lee only continued staring at her plate. Zuko swallowed. "You're right, Sweetness," he said. "You are the better bender."

"And you have no trouble at all respecting me," Katara said, sitting up. "Now please pour me some more tea."

"Oh, bend it yourself," Mai muttered.

"Yes, Katara, do bend us some tea," Azula said. "You are wearing that ghastly little uniform, after all. And if I'm going to have a waterbender in the palace I should at least make use of her." Azula smiled. "Just think of all the drinks you can keep chilled for me."

Katara bit back a retort about Azula's heart being cold enough for that particular job, reminded herself that Azula would not care what she had to say, and calmly lifted her hands. Bending in chains was awkard, but she could do it. She carefully bent a stream of tea from the pot, splayed her fingers, and split the stream into a net whose edges filled the cups on the table. Mai's mother backed away, a little. Just then a little boy ran up to her: "Mama!"

Her concentration disrupted, Katara let the tea splash down and said: "Tom-Tom!"

Mai's mother snatched her son up into her lap. "Keep your hands off him," she said. "You've already done quite enough damage."

Katara ignored her. "He's gotten so big! He's running and talking and everything!"

In the other woman's lap, Tom-Tom squirmed. He was a lot bigger, now, plump and healthy-looking, and his thatch of black hair had expanded to cover his whole scalp. "Down," he said, trying in vain to slide down his mother's leg. "Down!"

"Have no fear, my darling, the scary waterbender won't hurt you again," Mai's mother said.

"Oh, he doesn't remember me," Katara said. "He's too little." She leaned over Zuko to beam at Tom-Tom. "I fed you and changed you and everything, but are you the littlest bit grateful? No, you're not! Who's the cutest little colonist ever?_ You are!_"

Mai's mother looked deeply horrified. Mai herself arched one thin eyebrow. "You _changed_ him?"

"Of course."

"That's usually the _nanny's_ job."

"Well, maybe the _nanny _should have been watching him when he tagged along with a _lemur_," Katara said. "Or was that supposed to be his big sister's job?"

"I refuse to hear any more of this," Mai's mother said. She gathered her son up, nodded to a woman standing nearby, and gestured at Mai to rise. "My apologies, Princess Azula, but I simply cannot expose my youngest to this, this…_primitive._"

"Blame your escort," Azula said. "The only reason my useless brother and his latest distraction aren't rotting away in their cells is because a certain former officer wanted the animals let out of their cages." Her eyes narrowed. "I do hope that your trip to our little zoo has been informative, Master Piandao."

"Very," Piandao said pleasantly. He rose. "Madame Governor, if I might escort you."

"Please," Mai's mother said. She gestured again at her daughter. "Mai. Don't keep us waiting."

Mai rolled her eyes and stood. She kept her eyes pointed away from Zuko and Katara as she walked past. Azula snapped her fingers. "Dai Li. Take them back."

The Dai Li jerked the chains and Katara and Zuko stood. Katara nabbed one last lotus seed bun, stuffed it in her mouth, and walked along after them. Up ahead, Piandao slipped and fell. Neither Mai nor her mother made any effort to help him up. Katara jogged forward. Zuko followed. The chain went taut as she knelt beside the swordmaster. "Oh, thank you," he said. "Wait," he whispered as she helped him rise.

Katara's stomach dropped out somewhere near her toes. What did Sokka's master mean? Wait for what? Or who? Until when? Zuko was beside her: "Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine." She swallowed past a dry throat, and forced a smile.

Zuko smiled back. "Oh. Well. Good, then." Chains clinking, he offered his arm.

Katara rolled her eyes. She grabbed his hand and clenched it. "What are you, my dad? Hold my hand!"

Zuko frowned, cleared his throat, and said: "I just thought, with the manacles-"

"Oh just shut up and hold hands, Zuko."

And he did. After a few steps he twisted his hand so that she wasn't tugging on him any longer; he enlaced their fingers and she gave a little start. But he just kept walking and not looking at her. The Dai Li marched them back to their rooms in silence. As their doors opened, Azula called a halt, clasped her hands behind her back, and nodded in their direction. "You'll be gratified to know that your little love note went over very well with Father's advisers," she said. "And in three days, you'll get to see your family again."

"_Three days?"_ Katara stepped forward. "We gave them a whole week! Just in case!"

"In case of what?" Azula asked.

Katara's words froze in her throat. "In case they were far away when they got the message," Zuko said. He was getting to be as good at lying as his sister, and Katara felt a brief, intense flash of gratitude. "What if they can't get here in time to meet us?"

"Did your time in prison addle your brains even further, Zuko?" Azula arched an eyebrow. "They have a flying bison. Time is on their side." She turned away and began walking. "Enjoy your new cages."

Katara barely felt it when the Dai Li uncuffed her and pushed her into the black room. It wasn't until she heard Zuko's growl of frustration from next door that it really sank in: they had only three days to find the weapon, the Mechanist, and Longshot and Smellerbee. And they hadn't the first clue how to do it.

* * *

"We have to get out of here."

"I know."

"We have a job to do. Everyone's counting on us."

"I _know._"

"We have to think up a plan!"

"_I know that!"_ On the other side of the wall, Zuko rolled over. In the darkness, Katara heard the muffled sound of his floorboards creaking under his weight. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not really mad at you."

"I know," she said.

"I'm mad at the situation. I'm mad at Uncle Iroh for doing this to us. And I'm mad at myself for letting it get this far."

"Zuko, it was my idea-"

"I rescued Aang from Zhao without bending! I should be able to do this!"

Katara squirmed. "I know I've made things difficult…" She drew her knees to her chest. "I was the one who wanted to come here. And I drew all that attention to us at the munitions depot, and I got sick, and I lied to Azula. All those things are my fault, not yours." She laughed. "If it were up to you, we probably would have just waved some swords in their faces and made off with the weapon ourselves."

"If it were up to me, we never would have come."

Katara winced. "I know…" She laid her head on her arm. "I didn't know what it would be like, okay? I didn't know they would be this…petty."

"_Petty?_ You're complaining because they're being _petty?_ Do you have any _idea_ how lucky we are just to be _alive?_"

"Yes! I do! I healed Aang; I know what Azula can do!" She firmed her lips. "I healed you, too, you know."

"I remember." Zuko turned over again. "Thank you."

"You know, those parts belong to me, now," Katara said. "I salvaged them. They're mine."

"…Is that how it works?"

His voice had gone hesitant, and Katara decided then and there that she preferred the other Zuko better, the confident one she could feel completely comfortable in mostly-disliking and disapproving-of, because the one who looked like he actually got scared of things frightened her in a way she couldn't describe. He was Zuko. He was supposed to be tough and scary and arrogant and annoying and _fearless._ Because the opposite meant that things were really, really bad.

"No," she said. "It doesn't really work that way. I was just teasing. But don't go ruining all my hard work the next time you lose your temper."

"Oh. I'll do my best."

"And try not to get poisoned, either."

"Oh. Um. Right. I'll try." He sighed. "Um… About that, I'm sorry. If I did something-"

"You don't _remember?_"

"Of course I remember! I remember everything! I just don't remember apologizing, so I thought I should!" He cleared his throat. "So… Your waterbending teacher was also your grandfather?"

"What? No! Master Pakku lives at the _North_ Pole. Gran-Gran lives at the _South_ Pole."

"But you said he carved-"

"That was before Gran-Gran left. When she was younger, someone arranged their marriage. But she couldn't go through with it, so she left, and took the necklace, and gave it to my mom. And my mom gave it to me."

"And you'll give it to your daughter?"

Katara smiled. "I guess so. If we ever get out of here, that is."

"Right." She heard him shifting. "You really took care of Tom-Tom?"

"Of course! He was a lot smaller, though. He's really gotten big. And his hair grows as fast as Aang's."

"Aang is bald."

"Not when he doesn't shave, he's not," Katara said.

"Wait, he had hair? When?"

"After Azula."

"…Oh." A pause. "What color was it?"

"Black. Like yours, but not as shaggy."

"Maybe he has some Fire Nation in him," Zuko said. "The Air Nomads were kind of…nomadic."

"Plenty of people have black hair, Zuko. _Toph_ has black hair, and she's not from the Fire Nation."

"Avatar Roku was my great-grandfather," Zuko said. "That's kind of like being related."

"He was? Really?"

"On my mother's side."

"Oh. Right." It was easy to forget sometimes that Zuko had a mother, like anybody else. "Do you really think your mother is out there, somewhere?"

"I hope so. For the longest time I thought she was…gone."

"Well, I hope she's not." Katara bit her lip. "I mean, I hope that you find her someday."

"Me too."

"That was a pretty smart lie, too. Saying that we were looking for her. I mean, it makes sense. You would want to find her."

"I _do_ want to find her. If she's out there, I have to know."

"Why didn't you look for her before? I mean, you didn't have to join us."

"Are you saying you'd rather I hadn't?"

"No! I just meant…if it was so important to you, you could have looked for her…"

"I made up my mind to join you. And I'm trying to stick to my decisions, now." He snorted. "Not that it's done much good for anybody."

"Hey." Katara slid her finger into the wall. It felt cobwebby and weird; she suspected something might bite her. She tried in vain to poke him. "Aang knows how to firebend, now. Whatever else happens, you're still his teacher."

"Is that you?" Something brushed her fingertip.

"Yeah. I'm trying to poke you. Come closer so I can get in a good jab."

Zuko's finger tapped the floor near hers. "What did Master Piandao say, again?"

"He just told me to _wait._ What does that even mean? Why does he always have to be so mysterious? It's so annoying!" She frowned. "You don't think they're trying to break us out, do you?"

"Maybe. Or maybe they've learned something new that will help us, so they don't want us to proceed until later."

"But we don't _have_ until later. We have to find the weapon _now_."

"_They_ don't know that."

Katara thudded her head against the wall. "What do we do?"

"It's up to you. You're the one who decided to come here. It's your call."

Katara sighed. "We need to come up with a plan."

"Okay."

"How do we get out of here?"

"We get them to open the door, knock them out, and run."

"But then they'd be chasing us."

"Well, yes."

"And we're in the middle of the palace. If they catch us, we're dead meat."

"I know."

"You're not being very helpful, here."

Zuko's finger pulled away. "Well then _you_ think of something!"

Katara rolled over onto her back. There had to be a way to get out of this room and into the rest of the palace proper. Zuko had mentioned that the plans for the weapon could be in any number of places, but that it was likely to be in either the vault or with Ozai or Azula. There was no way they were getting into that vault, so that left the royal family's quarters. Katara didn't even want to think about what she would need to do to get into Ozai's rooms – probably break something else. (His face would do nicely.) Besides, he seemed like the public humiliation type –he'd never let her inside his office or his rooms when he could just set her on fire in front of a cheering crowd. That left Azula. Katara's stomach turned.

"Do you think I could ask Ty Lee for another hair-brushing?"

"What?"

She rolled over. "I think that room where Ty Lee took me is close to Azula's room, isn't it? There has to be some way for me to sneak in there if I'm already getting cleaned up. I could look for the plans!"

"You're right," Zuko said. "If it's the room I'm thinking of, they're attached. But it's not just a door, it's a false panel – the one with the cherry tree on it."

"So how do I open it?"

"Press it and it should pop open."

"Oh, great. That should be _really_ easy to open without everyone knowing."

"You could pretend to fall," Zuko said.

"Excuse me?"

"Like Piandao did," Zuko said. "Just pretend to trip. That's how I found out about that entrance. I tripped."

"You _tripped?_"

"I was clumsy."

A knock sounded at the door and Katara had just enough time to roll up off the floor before a guard entered with a steamer tray. "Why are you hiding back there?" she asked.

"I thought you might be Azula," Katara lied.

The guard suppressed a snicker. "Azula isn't coming to get you," the guard said. "She's having her dinner right now, just like you. So eat up."

Katara forced herself to clasp her hands in a pleading manner. "Can't I please just have one teeny light? If I have to eat in the dark I'll get food everywhere and there'll be a big mess!"

The guard rolled her eyes, coughed discreetly into her fist, and one little sconce lit up in a corner of the room. She turned to leave. Katara stood up. "One more thing!"

The guard turned on her heel, one eyebrow raised. Katara winced. She kept her hands in their pleading pose. "Can you somehow get a message to Ty Lee, for me? I just want to thank her for being so nice."

The guard frowned. "That's all?"

"Well, yes," Katara said. "I don't know what you've heard about the Water Tribe, but we do say 'please' and 'thank you.'" She lifted the steamer tray from the floor. "So, thank you! For dinner, and everything."

"Right." Again, the guard turned. When the door slammed and locked behind her, Katara heaved a sigh and took her tray back behind the bed. She uncovered the tray and found a small bowl of rice and a little square dish full of fried komodo-chicken and mango. There were also cold vegetable rolls in paper-thin wrappers – at least the meal was somewhat balanced. Maybe they were eating castoffs from the royal family's dinner. Either way, Katara didn't care.

Until she bit into the komodo-chicken. And nearly burned a hole in her tongue.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Zuko banged on the wall. "Eat your vegetables!"

Katara popped a vegetable roll in her mouth. Instantly, the fire calmed to embers on her tongue. She swallowed. "Thanks."

"You're supposed to eat the chicken and the mango in the same bite, so they balance each other out."

"Okay." She stared at the food. "I miss smoked sea-slugs and ocean kumquats."

"You're hopeless."

* * *

Ty Lee didn't return her message. Eventually the candle burned down, and Katara had to yield her tray and chopsticks and dishes, and go for her humiliating, escorted trip to the bathroom (they gave her something to clean her teeth with; that was nice at least) before bed. "Not a peep out of you," she was told. "It's lights out."

Katara resisted the urge to give them a mock-salute. She sat down by the hole in the wall and started working her clothes off. One thing about the uniform: it didn't take too much time to set aside. In the other room, she heard a door slam and Zuko's boots on the floor. There was a spark of light and then shifting shadows as he moved around the room. The narrow stream of light pouring through the crack in the wall exposed Katara's bare feet. She heard the sound of boots hitting the floor and then clothes. Then movement: "What are you doing?"

"The Dancing Dragon."

"Oh." She frowned. "By yourself?"

"I have to keep my skills up."

"Right." Katara stood up and moved into the bloodbending meditation poses Akna had taught her. She moved through the postures once, then again, before they felt completely right. She wished for some water – her meal had involved only some very dark tea that had clearly been poured from the bottom of the pot. Using the waterbending forms to center herself felt good. So much was outside her control: their treatment, their captors' disposition, what Aang and the others were doing. This, at least, she had control of. She could make her muscles stretch and her joints pop. She could savor her breathing and the peace it gave her.

"I'm going to bed," Zuko said.

"Me too."

"Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight."

She crawled into bed, pulled the covers over herself, and tried to sleep. Tried was the operative word; her mind refused to stop racing. It skated off in all directions, first Ty Lee and the bathing chamber and how to get into Azula's room, then Piandao's enigmatic word in her ear, then Zuko's Fire Nation folklore. In the Oyster District, he had given her alias to Rari as _Kuma_, like the woman in the story about the duel between Agni and Kai. Maybe the story was his favorite, so he chose it for that reason. Or maybe he was trying to compliment her in his usual roundabout Zuko way, by naming her after someone the spirits found worthy to join them. Or maybe he had named her after the Great Blue Dragon of the Northern Sky – she did wear a lot of blue, after all, and her temper was, at least by Sokka's pronouncement, legendary. But she wasn't from the North, even if Gran-Gran was, and Zuko hadn't known that when he chose the name… Her eyes went heavy and she finally relaxed and her mind swam with images of firebending in faded ink. _If they were going to fight over her like that, they should have just asked her what she wanted._

Satisfied with her wisdom, Katara slept. She dreamed of a feast she had to prepare, and a giant black pot with only three tiny grains of rice at the bottom. In her dream, she asked Gran-Gran how she could possibly stretch that small amount to feed so many guests, but Gran-Gran only turned way. Katara saw her shadow inside the door, and heard an odd rattling-

-and, waking, heard someone crossing the floor near her bed. She shrieked and had her hands up before she could stop them. The invader was human, at least; his blood answered her summons and she slammed him bodily against the opposite wall just as a spike of pain shot through her head. In the other room she heard Zuko's fist on the door. He was shouting – it was hard to listen and concentrate on her attacker at once – and then the door opened and she saw the intruder's face – _Piandao's_ face – before he ducked behind the door. Zuko and a bleary-looking guard in bad need of a shave stood inside the threshold. Zuko had clearly just rolled out of bed: he wore his pants and nothing else, and his hair was all mashed-up on one side. "What happened?"

Katara swallowed. "Bad dream," she said in a small voice that sounded too strained even to her ears. The guard's palm connected with his face. Katara found her voice again. "Um, can you come in, Zuko? I'm, um, still really scared."

"Aww," the guard said. Zuko turned to him with annoyance written all over his features, but the guard was staring at Katara. He rocked on his toes. "Even former royalty still gets the best of everything, I see." He wandered toward the door. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He paused. "Don't do anything I _would_ do, either. And don't take too long at it."

Katara's jaw dropped. She stepped up to swing at the guard, but then the door slammed and Zuko had her shoulders and Piandao was almost melting out of his place behind the door. "I've-"

"_You!"_ Zuko spoke in a hiss. He moved and he had Piandao by the throat and pinned up against the wall. He lit a tiny flame in his palm. "What are you doing here?"

"Your family is safe," the swordmaster said, seemingly unfazed.

Zuko let him free. "What?"

"General Iroh and the Avatar are safe." Piandao adjusted his collar and looked at Katara. "As are your brother and father."

"Toph," Zuko said. "How-"

"Solid as a rock," Piandao said. "No pun intended, of course."

Katara's vision was blurring. "They're okay…"

"I only have a little time," Piandao said. He was reaching up inside his pant legs. He brought out two tight rolls of black fabric. "These should help you. What do you know about the weapon?"

"Only that no one's mentioned it," Zuko said. "Azula's arranging a meeting with Uncle Iroh in three days. It's a trap. It has to be. She thinks we've agreed to spy on the Avatar."

Piandao's brows lifted. "Well, right now she thinks I'm suffering indigestion from that abysmal meal in the dining room."

"What do we do if we can't find the weapon in time?"

Piandao blinked. "I don't know. But General Iroh will find a way for you to remain within the palace. Follow his lead."

"That's all you've got?" Zuko asked. _"Follow his lead?"_

"And your instincts."

"Instincts?" Katara came back to herself. "We've been tied up, beat up, starved and questioned and poked and prodded and all you've got are _instincts?_"

"What she said," Zuko said, pointing.

"Instincts, and a map," Piandao said, unrolling some of the black fabric and exposing a tiny scroll. "This will tell you the location of all the secret passages in the palace. Such as the one I'm about to use now, for instance." He handed Zuko the scroll, then moved to the wall. He crouched low, pressed a panel, and slid it upward. Behind the panel was a little circular space, and a steel ladder.

"You are being watched," Piandao said. "Your walls have peepholes in them. From that position, Azula or Ozai can observe everyone who sleeps on this floor. That includes the two of you and any other guests. So be careful what you say. But this route will also let you escape to other floors. Just follow the ladder, then the map. And be careful."

"Thank you," Katara said.

"No, thank _you_," Piandao said. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Katara and Zuko said in unison. They watched as Piandao slid the panel down behind him. Then he was gone, and they were in the dark. "Oh, sorry." Zuko brought the flame back. It seemed he was standing a lot closer, now.

"It's okay." Katara smiled. "They're okay. Everyone's really okay."

"Yes." Zuko sighed. "Thank the sages for that." He swallowed. "What was all that noise before?"

"He scared me, so I bent his blood and kind of, um, threw him against the wall."

"Does your head hurt?"

Katara nodded. The headache had returned in force, now that he mentioned it. She moved to sit down. Zuko was lifting one corner of her mattress and stuffing the black material under it. "What are those?"

"Clothes," Zuko said. He frowned. "They look a lot like my Blue Spirit gear…"

"Why would Piandao give us clothes?"

"For sneaking," Zuko said. "Your teashop uniform won't be so useful if you scrape your knee." He looked at the tiny map. "Hold onto this. I know about some of the passages already."

"Thanks." Katara took a hold of the scroll. She didn't have a pocket or a drawer to keep it in. Face heating, Katara pulled her wrappings away from her skin with a finger, and dropped the scroll inside. Now the scroll rested at her chest. Zuko was staring. The light snuffed out suddenly, plunging them into darkness.

"Sorry-"

"No, it's okay." Katara shifted weight. "I'd rather you couldn't see me right now, anyway."

In the dark she heard his feet stepping back. "Sorry! Really. I didn't mean to-"

"I'm just as embarrassed as you are right now, Zuko." She laughed suddenly. The words were amazingly freeing to say. She felt ten pounds lighter. "It's just my dad," she said. "He made a big deal about me wearing these clothes around Aang, and it made me self-conscious."

"I see… I mean, I don't see! I can't see. And that's good." He swallowed audibly. "Maybe you should get into bed." He cleared his throat. "That way you could be, um, under the covers."

"Right." Katara felt her way backward and into the bed. She slid under the blankets. She heard fabric rustling as Zuko knelt beside the bed.

"So, I guess-"

The door squealed open. A sudden bar of light exposed Zuko kneeling in the dark. He squinted. "Can't you see we're busy?"

"Time's up," the guard said.

"Just give us a minute!"

The guard folded his arms. Zuko set his teeth, then gave Katara a smile. "Do you think you can sleep?" he asked, in a voice pitched so the other man could hear.

Katara exaggerated a nod. "I'm fine now, thank you."

"Well, that's good." Zuko reached up and tucked a lock of her hair behind one ear. Then he was bending down and just as Katara froze, his lips connected with the her forehead. They were warm and surprisingly soft and heavy. Her eyes closed. _He's kissing me. He's really kissing me._ Then he was moving, and she felt the faintest brush of rough scar-skin across her cheek. "I'll come for you tonight," he murmured in her ear.

* * *

Sleep was impossible. Katara lay awake for what must have been an hour or more, waiting for any noise. After that, she couldn't take it any longer. Fake relationship or not, no guy kissed her (even if it was just the forehead) and then stood her up (not that it was a date, just an appointment to spy on the Fire Lord). She sat up, threw the covers back, felt between the mattress and frame for her new clothes, and began stepping into them. Naturally, Zuko chose this time to enter. Like her, he wore his new clothes; in the light shed by the tiny flame atop his finger, he seemed like little more than a disembodied head.

"Do you have the map?"

Katara nodded. She tucked her hair inside the cowl and moved for the door. "What if Azula comes to check on us while we're gone?"

"She's already been," Zuko said.

Katara's blood chilled. "She has? How do you know?"

"I heard the rats running the other way."

Despite herself, Katara started giggling. She covered her mouth and followed Zuko into a sort of vertical tunnel behind the panel. Their footsteps rang hollowly on iron grating. From the center of the grate, the ladder continued above them and much further down below. Steel pipes clung to the surrounding walls of the shaft. "This must be the main plumbing conduit," Zuko said. "Those pipes probably conduct all the water through this section of the palace."

Katara smirked. "So you're saying I could do a lot of damage here."

A rare, happy smile crossed Zuko's features. "Oh yes."

Staring up at the ladder, Katara brought out the scroll. According to the map, the ladder led to another room upstairs. Someone had scrawled the word "Office" and "Ozai" inside the square at the top of the ladder. To the left of the office was the bedroom, and to the right a reception area that opened onto the hallway. Two tunnels sprouted from the bedroom. One went left, toward squares labeled "Ursa," "Azula," "Bath," and "Zuko." The other curved up and then down before branching off into tunnels labeled "Throne Room," "Vault," "Catacombs," "River," and "Bunker."

"So," Katara said. "There's a secret tunnel connecting your parents' rooms."

Zuko had covered his eyes. "Don't remind me."

"Actually, it's kind of sweet. You know, maybe some of your ancestors were shy, and they-"

"Please stop talking."

Katara snickered and looked up at the ladder. "Any chance Ozai is still in his office?"

Zuko shook his head. "He should be in bed by now."

"What if he's not?"

"Then we hope he doesn't hear us." Zuko looked up at the ladder, took a deep breath, and began climbing. Katara firmed her lips and followed.

The climb was fairly short. Every few rungs, Zuko puffed fire from his mouth to illuminate the way. They ended up under a trap door that opened upward and into what appeared to be a liquor cabinet. At least, it looked that way from the sliver Katara could see. Zuko hissed his frustration: "There's a tripwire."

"What?"

"The trapdoor. It's connected to one of the bottles, up there. He must open up the cabinet when he wants to use the passage, then pull on one of the bottles. If I open the door any further, the whole cabinet will swing open."

"Well, can you hear anything?"

Zuko paused. "No. But what if he fell asleep in his office, or something? What if he's just being really quiet?"

"Then we make ghost noises and hope he believes in haunted cabinets," Katara said.

"You know, if I had wanted one of your brother's plans, I would have brought him along."

"Just open the stupid cabinet," she said. "We're in your dad's office already. Now let's find those plans and get out of here!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said, and squeezed his eyes shut as he gently opened the trapdoor. Nothing happened. No long tongue of fire came to chase them down the passage. Zuko pushed air past his teeth and slid up and out of the passage. He gave Katara a hand, then guided her out of the cabinet. When Katara turned, she saw the rows of bottles and decanters neatly arranged in their special niches within the cabinet; Zuko's flame gleamed on their surfaces.

"Wow," she said. "Your dad really drinks a lot."

"Those are just for show," Zuko said. "His real stash is in his room."

Katara's eyebrows lifted, but she said nothing. Instead, she looked around the room. It was a very ornate. Suits of old-fashioned Fire Nation armor stood on either side of a long desk with barely any papers on it. A map of the world hung behind the desk. Pins with tiny red flags marched all across it; Katara realized with no small amount of horror that they signified the movement of the Fire Navy. A whole fleet was headed straight for the South Pole.

"Oh, no."

Zuko paused his investigation of his father's desk and looked at the map. He followed her gaze to the herd of tiny flags migrating south. His mouth hardened. "We're going to stop him," he said. "I promise you."

"What if it's too late?"

"It's never too late," Zuko said, and started searching the desk's drawers. He pulled one eleborately-carved drawer, but it refused to budge. "Can you open it?"

"I don't have a key…"

"Just freeze the lock and break it open," Zuko said. "I'll weld it back the way it was when we're done."

Katara tore her eyes away from the map and knelt before the desk. Summoning water from the soil in a nearby potted plant, she froze the lock. With a decisive punch, Zuko broke open the drawer. They both winced. No sound of rushing footsteps followed, though, and they both sighed in unison. Feeding the fire in his palm, Zuko began pawing through the drawer. "One thing at a time," Katara said. "That way we'll know if we've missed something." She carefully extracted the whole drawer from the desk and began leafing through the documents.

The Fire Lord's private papers were surprisingly boring. He apparently had a fondness for candied ginger; Katara found the pieces still in their waxed paper. He also kept all of Azula's letters from the past year, as well as her final progress report from the Fire Academy for Girls. Digging a little further down, Katara found miniature reports on Mai and Ty Lee. It was basic information, nothing special. "Ty Lee has six sisters?"

"They all look just like her," Zuko said. "Isn't there anything more incriminating in there?"

"Hold on, I think I see one more scroll." Katara retrieved the final one and unrolled it. In the flickering light given by Zuko's flame, she saw a family: Ozai, Azula, a very pretty woman with long black hair and a gentle smile, and a little boy sitting up straight and staring at the artist. He had no scar, and his face was much softer and rounder, but there was only one person it could be.

"Why would he keep this?" Zuko asked. "He hates us. Me and my mother both, he hates us and he wishes we were dead."

Katara had no idea how to answer that. Perhaps Ozai had forgotten the scroll was even there, but she wasn't about to offer that particular explanation. Instead she looked at the face that used to be Zuko's. "How old were you?"

"Nine or ten. It doesn't matter. Put it back."

"Your mom was really beautiful."

"…I know."

Katara began rolling the scroll up. "It's hard to think of you being that little."

"You mean when I looked different," Zuko said. He was back to staring at the map.

"Well, that too, I guess." Katara's face heated. "I just mean that it's easy to forget that you used to be a little boy."

"I was younger than Aang when he banished her," Zuko said.

Katara pressed along the bottom of the drawer, hoping to find a secret compartment. Nothing sprang up, though. She pressed harder, and immediately recoiled when something sharp bit her back. "Ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"I think your dad keeps a scorpion in his desk!"

"He hates scorpions. He hates anything that crawls." Zuko picked up the drawer and shook it. Inside, something rattled. Frowning, he dug around until he found something. He held it up to the flame. "What in the…?"

Clutched between Zuko's thumb and forefinger was a tiny model of a sea urchin, a spiked sphere. When he pressed it gently, the spikes retracted. He let it go, and the spikes snapped back into place. "Is it as playing piece?" Katara asked.

"Not for any game I know of," Zuko said. He began to put it in his shirt.

"No, don't keep it! What if your dad misses it?"

"Oh, right." Zuko took another look at the little urchin, then replaced it.

"Okay, so no plans for a weapon here," Katara said. "Where else could they be?"

"Maybe with the Mechanist, but the other drawers don't have anything," Zuko said. He looked at a scroll cabinet to their left, and moved for them. Katara promptly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down.

"You're welding the lock, remember? I'll look at the scrolls." Katara stood up and began plucking the scrolls. They seemed roughly grouped: maps, finances, reports from staff, and letters. She found nothing that looked like design specifications for a weapon. Even the letters were innocent: "Your dad got a lot of birthday messages."

"That's right, it was his birthday…" Zuko grimaced. "This stupid lock won't set!"

"Oh, hang on." Katara bent down over the lock and blew icy mist over it. The metal cooled into a slightly-lumpy version of its original shape. She stood and confronted Zuko's envious gaze. "We have to get word to the Southern Water Tribe," she said. "They have to know that the Southern Fleet is on its way. Which way is the rookery?"

"You want to send a dragon-hawk? _Now?_ We don't even know where to send it to!"

"I told you, the Southern Water Tribe! Master Pakku is there right now, and he can help the Tribe prepare!"

"Prepare for what? We don't have enough information on the weapon to risk entering the rookery. It's seven floors up in a tower way on the other side of the palace!" He suddenly seemed a lot closer. "We might only get one chance," he said. "We have to make it count."

Light flared under a door. Katara's blood froze. Zuko grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a curtain. He jumped silently to a windowsill and tugged her up to join him. Katara wobbled on the sill but an iron grip closed around her elbow. Zuko braced them both against the wall with one hand. She heard his breath in her ear and the sound of someone moving around the office. Shadows appeared under the curtain and she closed her eyes. Any minute now, Ozai would pull back the curtain, and it would all be over. She couldn't breathe. Then she heard a drawer opening, and crinkling paper.

Ozai was eating his candied ginger.

Katara almost laughed. Tears leaked from her eyes. She heard the creak of a chair, and a satisfied sigh. The Fire Lord was probably leaning backward, ankles crossed at his desk, sucking happily on his treat, completely oblivious to the two spies hiding in his office. Under the curtain, light flared, and she heard the sound of two hands brushing themselves off. Ozai had probably just burned his candy wrappers. A moment later, the chair creaked again. She heard retreating steps, and the sound of a door hinges. Her eyes flew open. What if he was headed to the liquor cabinet? What if he wanted to check on them, and they weren't there? She caught Zuko's gaze but he held a finger to his lips and shook his head. The door closed, and light left the room. Silently, Zuko counted to five on one hand. Very slowly, he moved the curtain, then quickly blasted fire into the shadows. None returned. Sighing heavily, he leaned his forehead against the wall beside her head.

"Can we please just go to bed, now?"

* * *

Back in the plumbing shaft, Katara took the ladder past their rooms. Zuko hopped off the ladder, lit a fire in his palm, and stared down at her through the grate. "Where are you going?"

She continued climbing down into the shadows. "Exploring."

"You can't just go exploring. You don't even know where to go!"

"I have a map," Katara said. "I'm sure I can figure something out."

Zuko closed his fist around the flame. The entire shaft went black. "You can't read a map if you can't see."

"Zuko, bring the light back."

"…No. You're going about this the wrong way."

"You mean I'm going about it _my_ way."

"Yes! And we're supposed to be a team!" Fire blazed in his palm. He sat on his knees, one hand curled through the grate. "How can I back you up if I don't know your plan? I can't read your mind!"

Katara frowned. "You don't want to go looking for the Mechanist?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Of course I do! I just want to know where we're going, first!"

"Well, there's the prison tower…"

His good eye widened. "Are you crazy? Do you even know how far away that is from here? Or how many walls there are in between? There are Yu Yan archers waiting for intruders on either side!"

_Wow, Toph is right. Motherly people are annoying. Am I really like that?_ "How do you know so much about it?"

"Because I've been there! I used sneak in at night to see Uncle Iroh!"

Katara smiled. "So you know how to get there?"

His jaw dropped and he stood. "No way. Every time I visited, I went as Prince Zuko. That's why they let me in. There's no way that's going to work, now."

She winced. "Come on, Zuko. It can't be any harder than stealing Aang from Zhao, or breaking into a secret Dai Li compound, or figuring out a Sun Warrior puzzle. You did all those things."

"With Aang's help. Twice."

"And now you'll have my help," Katara said. She arched one eyebrow. "You're not saying you wish I were Aang, are you?"

"Of course not! I'd just rather do this by myself!"

Katara had climbed three rungs before truly noticing she was on the move. She stomped her way up the ladder and jumped off it. She poked Zuko in the chest. "_Excuse me?_ Did I just hear you say that you'd rather do this _alone?_ You don't _want _my help?"

"No. I don't."

"Oh. Well. Fine. That's just great." She threw her hands in the air and stalked toward the wall. "You want to go it alone? Go ahead. Go it alone. Be my guest. But don't expect me to heal you when-"

Something tugged her elbow and spun her around. Katara stumbled a little. Zuko had let the fire go out and the sudden darkness left her suddenly and intensely aware of the way he had her now by the wrists, the warmth in those fingers. "I don't want to _need_ your help," he said. "I want to be able to do this by myself."

Katara snorted and pulled her hands away. "Do you think I _like_ needing your help, Zuko? Because it's pretty annoying to rely on somebody who chased you from the South Pole to Ba Sing Se."

"…You rely on me?"

Katara thanked whatever spirits were in attendance for the darkness. "Well, yes. I mean, no. What I meant to say was that it's annoying to _have to _rely on you. That's what I meant."

"That's what you meant."

"Yes."

"So you can't rely on me?"

"No! I mean, yes. I rely on you for some things." She tried to think of something nice to say. "Like tea. And food. And not spending all the money, that's nice. Sokka goes through it like water." She was prattling and she knew it. Unfortunately, she seemed unable to stop. "And you're really strong, and you're really good with Toph, and you taught Aang how to firebend, and…um…you always show up unexpectedly?"

Silence. "That's a lot," Zuko said, finally.

"Well, you see, I _do_ rely on you, and-"

"Do you trust me?" She heard boots on metal and the air around her was much warmer suddenly. "We can't do this if we don't trust each other. I've done my best to redeem myself, but if you-"

"Stop it." Katara tried pushing him, but he didn't budge. She ended up with a handful of cloth. "All that goes without saying," she said. She pretended to smooth his tunic down, as though she could somehow detect wrinkles in the darkness. "You're Zuko. You don't give up." She jabbed him in the chest. "And why do I have to keep on telling you nice things? Why aren't _you_ complimenting _me?_"

"Do you want me to compliment you?"

"No!" _Not that it would be a bad thing…_ "I just meant that we're wasting time. That ladder isn't just going to climb itself, you know." She stepped forward, and promptly bumped right into Zuko. "Ow."

The light in his palm flared up just in time for him to catch her rubbing her nose. "I trust you," he said. "You've never given in, not once. And you've never lied to me." He looked at the space between his feet. "And you're really good at waterbending."

"Well, I _am_ a master-"

"I know that! I just meant…you're really powerful."

"Oh." Katara hated herself for blushing. "Well, you are, too."

"I'm no master-"

"No, I mean you're really powerful. Your bending is, anyway. You're a very powerful bender." She clapped her hand over her mouth. There was a sound in her heart like Aunt Wu laughing at her. "I mean, a strong bender. You're a very _strong_ bender." Her hand plunged inside her cowl. "Let's look at the map!"

"Um…all right…"

Zuko held his palm near the scroll so they could both examine it. The ladder continued down several levels. Immediately below them was the throne room level, with a variety of chambers and a tunnel leading from the throne room to the vault. The vault connected to the Catacombs, and then on to the river flowing beneath the city and into the harbor, as well as to the royal bunker. Below the throne room was the service floor, with things like kitchens and stables and laundries. Below that were servants' quarters, and still further below those was a basement level linked directly to the tunnels connected to the royal bunker. Despite being accessible from a variety of tunnels within the palace, the bunker itself had only one entrance. Someone had tried a rough sketch of the bunker, but all Katara saw were concentric circles and switchback turns.

"None of these even connect to the prison," Zuko said. "We're going to have to find another way."

"Right." Katara pointed at the vault. "There are plenty of other places to go in the meantime, though!"

"Uncle Iroh did say the plans were likely to be hidden there," Zuko said.

"And we only have two days," Katara reminded him. "The first one's already gone."

"And there won't be anyone in the throne room this time of night…" Zuko smirked. "So you think you're ready to break into the Fire Lord's personal vault?"

"Zuko. Please. I was born ready." She made a mocking face. "If I can steal from pirates, I can steal from your dad. Honestly, I thought you _trusted_ me."

"I've never doubted the lightness of your fingers," Zuko said, and his voice had some of the old roughness to it. He moved toward the ladder. "Well? Are you coming?"

Katara moved to the ladder. "You know, you'd think a prince would know about _ladies_ coming_ first,_ Zuko."

"Oh, they do," Zuko said. He gave her an odd smile. "We'll take turns. You can go first on the way back up."

"Oh. Well, that's fair, I guess."

If anything, his smile broadened. Then he was climbing down the ladder, exhaling slow fire as he did so to light the way. A moment later, Katara joined him. And as they climbed ever-downward into the depths of the palace, Katara said: "You know, I never would have pictured the Fire Lord keeping his daughter's progress reports."

"You learn something new every day," Zuko said. He paused, and she sensed he was looking up at her. "This mission has done wonders for my point of view."

* * *

**Notes: I STILL DO NO WANT SPOILERS FOR THE S.C. BOOK. AT ALL. PLEASE. THANK YOU. THE MOMENT YOU WRITE A SPOILER HERE, YOU SPOIL EVERYONE WHO READS THESE REVIEWS. THANK YOU.**

**Readers who are familiar with **_**Ozai's Vengeance**_** will be familiar with some of the secret passages mentioned here. However, the central plumbing conduit is new. It sprouts down from Ozai's office, which Zuko never used in OV. (He used his mother's, and I suspect that Iroh took Ozai's office, thus empowering whatever spies he had on the payroll with more methods of gaining information.) Zuko did sleep in Ozai's old bedroom, however, which granted him access to both the tunnels leading to the Catacombs and to Ursa's old room. So while it is technically ret-conning to add more passages, the truth is that the palace would likely have some similar form of plumbing conduit or shaft, and that Azula is certainly crafty enough to make use of it. At least, I think so. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: Wow, there has been a great outpouring of support for this story. Once again I've been asked if I write for the show, and I'm sad to say that this is not the case. (Hi guys, if you're reading this. Feel free to confirm that I never worked on the show, it being finished and all.)**

**Thanks: Everyone who has produced art, done icons, contributed quotes, promoted this fic at LJ and dA, and in general made this story so much fun to work on. Thanks to Fishy701 and MillyMonka for their new art!**

* * *

A cathedral, a wave of storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped. **- Marcel Proust**

* * *

According to the map Piandao had given them, the ladder within the main plumbing conduit extended as far as a sub-basement with access to the tunnels connected to the bunker and the Catacombs. Luckily, Katara and Zuko didn't need to go that far down; they stopped at the floor marked "throne room," and hopped down onto steel grating. Another panel with peepholes allowed them to check inside for guards, but they saw none lurking in the shadows.

Nor did they see a throne. "Is the map wrong?" Katara asked.

"No," Zuko said. "We're on the right floor, just in the wrong room." He knelt, pressed the panel, and ushered Katara through. Then he stepped through and slid the panel down. Lighting a small fire in his palm, he exposed stack upon stack of scroll cabinets, and long worktables in glossy, dark wood. A particularly wizened old Fire Lord stood watch over the room in the form of a long wall hanging. He clutched scrolls in both arms.

"Is this a library?"

"Yes," Zuko said. "It's where you wait before talking to the Fire Lord. Now I know why." He jerked his head at the peephole-riddled panel behind them. On this side of the panel, the holes were cleverly worked into a mural of birds in a tree. From outside the room, the Fire Lord could observe all his visitors and hear their plans before they entered his chamber.

"You know, you people are _really_ paranoid."

"Only for good reason," Zuko said, moving past sofas and toward a door. He listened at it for a moment before backing away. "This isn't good," he said. "We aren't facing the entrance to the throne room directly. There are bound to be guards waiting for us there once we turn the corner. If they see us, we're dead."

"Can't we just knock them out?"

"They still might see us, and tell everyone when they woke up. And even if they didn't see us, they'd have to report what happened. Azula will suspect us right away."

Katara bit her lip. "So what you're saying is that we have to knock them out, make it look totally natural, and be invisible at the same time?"

Zuko nodded. "That's about it."

She winced. "I don't suppose they'd open the door for the Painted Lady, would they?" She sat down on a sofa and stared at the surrounding scrolls. Zuko's flame wove past her vision, illuminating the titles: _Firebending and Childbirth, Master Gei Ren's Anatomy of the Healthy Firebender._ A grin stretched across her features. She snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"Really? Where will you get red facepaint?"

"Sparky, please." Katara stood. "I know what to do. Let's go."

* * *

"How many?" Katara asked.

Zuko slipped back from around the corner and hugged the wall. "Two."

"Awake?"

"Mostly. One keeps nodding."

Katara grit her teeth. "If this doesn't work, we'll have to get back into the tunnels and head for the river."

"Don't think about that. Just do what you have to do." Zuko smiled. "I know you can do this. Just go for it."

She felt herself smiling back before she could stop herself. It was one thing when your dad or your brother or your friends believed in you. It was something else entirely when that belief came from someone who used to try lashing you with fire-whips. The floor beneath her feet suddenly felt much steadier. She sighed and edged along the wall until the line of torchlight where the shadows ended. She caught a quick peek at the guards: two, like Zuko said, and the one on the right was almost asleep. She pulled back, raised her arms, and closed her eyes.

The blood in their bodies responded immediately. She concentrated on the wakeful one – his friend wouldn't notice him slowly crumpling to the floor – and focused on his neck. Akna had taught her the crucial veins and arteries. Twitching her fingers, Katara cut off the circulation in the two proper passages. Sweat prickled on her hairline as she held it. Her fingers ached and she thought she felt the ghost of struggle in his body, but then he slipped down into sleep. The other guard was simple after that, just a mere flick of the fingers and he succumbed.

"Outstanding," Zuko murmured.

Pain and stars exploded behind her eyes, but Zuko was taking her hand and guiding her through curtains and into a room that was like a forest, so thick it was with spiked pillars and sconces. She blinked and saw the outlines of an immense golden dragon in the light thrown by Zuko's shaking flame. He was on a dais, feeling around inside a covered seat.

"Is this-"

Zuko held a single finger up to his lips, peeled back a cushion, and sent fire blazing from his hand. Something clicked, and then he was pulling open the whole throne. He gestured. Still dizzy, Katara tried crawling up the dais, but Zuko just grabbed her hand and pulled her. Reeling, she stared into what appeared to be a large, dark hole.

"You first," he said.

"What? You-"

Outside, someone said: "Did you fall asleep?" And that was all the encouragement she needed; she hopped down into the hole-

-and quickly discovered it was a slide. She covered her mouth to keep from yelping. Behind her, the trapdoor in the throne clicked shut before she heard Zuko's clothes whispering along the walls behind her. In the total darkness, she could only sense her body coasting vaguely upward before the slide abruptly ended in another trap door and spat her out. She landed on her knees. Zuko came crashing in behind and she collapsed face-down. On top of her, Zuko was breathing hard. "So," he said. "We're here."

"I can't breathe."

"Oh! Sorry." Zuko rolled off her and summoned a small fireball. The dancing light exposed a flight of stairs leading upward, and on the opposite wall, a great circular golden door carved with a dragon whose body had tied itself in an elaborate knot. The dragon's mouth yawned open, not unlike the massive dragon behind Ozai's throne.

"Does _everything_ here have to have a dragon on it?" Katara asked.

Zuko was examining the door. He stood on his toes and peered inside the dragon's mouth. "Uncle said we had to shoot lightning into this thing."

"That's your department," Katara said.

He shook his head. "My lightning's not that precise, yet. If I miss and burn the door, Ozai will know someone was here." He looked around them. "Uncle said to use stormbending to open the door, but there's no water…"

Katara made a _pfft_ noise. "There's plenty of water," she said, and bent some away from Zuko's forehead. The sweat made a glittering disc in her palm. "You got any more where that came from?"

Zuko smirked. "I'll do my best." He rolled his neck, and started doing squats. Katara began running in place. She only hoped Ozai didn't notice the smell, the next time he visited.

"Where'd you learn this trick?" Zuko asked, popping up and puffing fire before squatting down.

"Jail," Katara said.

Fire flared from his mouth. "What did you steal?"

"Nothing! I wasn't stealing!"

"…Was this when you tried to swindle that town out of Toph's bounty?"

"It wasn't _swindling_. Well, okay, it was swindling, but it totally backfired, which only proves that we shouldn't have tried in the first place because it's _wrong._"

"…You know you can't just steal Fire Nation artefacts, right?"

Katara quit running. Panting, she said: "Shut up and take your shirt off." There was the softest hint of laughter, and something warm and damp hit her in the face. She let it drop to the ground. "I need your _sweat_, not your sweaty _clothes_."

Fire blossomed in his hand. It was enough to show the sweat in rivulets from his temples, down his collarbone. "Well? Is this enough?"

Katara gulped. "I think so." Raising her hands, she lifted the sweat from him like a veil. With one hand, she added her own sweat, bending it free of her clothes and her hair. She spun the two fluids together into one smelly ball of water, and then carefully added the dampness from Zuko's shirt. It only marginally increased the size of the ball, but every little bit helped. She raised her eyes. "You ready?"

He assumed a bending posture. The fire snuffed out. She heard him in the dark: "Now?"

"Now."

They moved. In the dark she could really only hear him, but that was enough: there was his breathing and the shift of his clothes and the dig of his boots in the floor. She spun the water, wove it in and out. Their hands brushed and they laughed and a moment later the lightning came to life between them, blue and sharp and bright, and it illuminated his face bright as daylight. They sucked in breath and he added the lightning to the water and she shot it straight for the dragon. Light vanished down the golden beast's throat. There was a click and a heavy groan, a shuddering creak. They were breathing fast when Zuko lit a fire, held it out. The door had swung open. And inside was the Fire Lord's treasure.

Katara walked forward hesitantly. Past that door were sacks of gold, piles of scrolls, enamelled urns, suits of ancient armor, lumps of jade sculpture, and jewelled weapons hanging from the walls. Then Zuko blasted quick fire at the vault's sconces and the sparkle left odd dots of refracted light on every surface. _"Wow."_

Zuko bent and picked up his shirt. He gestured. "After you."

Katara stepped into the vault and continued staring. Behind her, she heard Zuko pull the door closed and start pulling on his shirt. Her brain felt too full staring at the wealth stacked before her: it was surprisingly disorganized and her eyes couldn't decide on which direction to look. Then at the far side of the room, a dressmaker's dummy in a golden robe caught her eye. The dummy wore a headdress like the Painted Lady's hat, but strings of tiny rubies hung from the brim. Scarlet thread interrupted the gold silk of the robe's topmost layer; someone had embroidered it with dragons and phoenixes. "What is this?"

"My mother's wedding clothes," Zuko said. Katara stepped back, instantly afraid that she would somehow damage the robes. She bumped into Zuko, who didn't move. "I've only ever seen the portrait, before," he said.

"They're beautiful…"

"You can touch them, you know."

She shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea. I'll mess them up."

"Just be gentle."

Carefully, Katara reached out and traced one finger over a dragon on the robe's surface. She turned. "You don't think your dad comes down here and, like, dances with this dummy, do you?"

Zuko grimaced. "Well, I didn't think so until _now…_"

"Sorry." She contemplated the robes again. "It's a really special outfit," she said, by way of apology. "I mean, it's sad that things didn't work out, but I know your mom must have looked amazing that day. I bet all the other guys were really jealous of your dad."

He smiled. "I guess."

"No, I'm sure they were. Girls know these things, Zuko."

"You mean like how a leopard-shark knows when another one is swimming in its territory?"

"Haha. Very funny, Zuko." She rolled her eyes and moved away from the robes. She pointed. "You take the scrolls. I'll check this cabinet."

His good eyebrow lifted. "…Okay." He wandered over in the direction of the scrolls.

Katara turned toward the cabinet. It was slender and ornate; someone had carved its surface with birds. She opened the narrow doors and saw jewels. She saw _lots_ of jewels, to be precise. The left half of the cabinet seemed devoted to necklaces and hair pins alone, the other to bangles and cuffs in gold and copper. When she pulled drawers open, she saw rings and hair sticks and funny little jade eggs of varying size.

"I really don't think that's where Ozai keeps the plans for his secret weapon," Zuko said.

Katara flushed. "You never know! There could be a secret drawer!"

"There _is_ a secret drawer. It's the one with the eggs. Press the back and it pops open."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"Because the only thing that's back there is-"

"A golden seal and a little dragon toy?"

Zuko dropped his scroll. "Let me see those." He crossed the room and stared into Katara's hand. The seal was pure gold, and featured a bear with one paw raised. When Zuko flipped it over, Katara saw the raised imprint of a bear's paw there. "This is her seal. This is how she signed her personal letters." He picked up the little dragon. Its paint had mostly worn off, but Katara saw flecks of blue still clinging to the steel. "I had no idea she kept this."

"Did it belong to you?"

He nodded. "Before Uncle gave me my dagger, it was my favorite." He sighed. "There were two. Azula broke the red one." He crouched down. Katara followed. She watched him tenderly take hold of the dragon's tail and wind it slowly. Then he set it on the floor. It sped off noisily until it hit the nearest wall. Katara laughed. Then she looked at Zuko's face, and the laugh died. He pressed his lips together and swallowed, stared at the little toy with its wheels still spinning uselessly against the wall.

There were a lot of things to say, like _I miss my mom, too,_ or _It'll be okay_ or _We have a job to do._ But there was also a feeling in her chest like her heart slowly expanding, and it made talking difficult. So she said: "Can I try?"

He startled. "Um, sure." He leaned over and picked up the toy. "Be careful; the point on the tail is sharp."

Katara nodded. "It goes this way, right?"

"Right." He watched her winding the toy. She set it down gently on the floor; it sped away again.

"Sokka never let me play with his toys," she said. "He said they were only for boys. Our dad used to make our toys, but then he went away and there weren't any more new ones." She smiled. "Sokka had this doll, and it carried a spear, and its arms moved." She held one hand near her mouth, as though telling a secret. She whispered: "I used to make his doll and my doll play house."

Zuko smiled. "I won't tell." He reached over and grabbed the toy again. He stood and deposited the seal and the toy back in the drawer. Katara stood, and they began to shut the jewelry cabinet. Then a glimmer of blue caught her eye, and she stopped.

"What's that?"

Zuko lifted the necklace from its hook with one finger. He balanced the stone in his other palm. It was a large pear-shaped blue stone, the size of an Earth Kingdom gold ingot. It sat on a string of pearls. "It's a sky opal," he said. "The Air Nomads used to trade them. This is an antique." He tilted the stone in his hand. "See, it's like yours. When you move it, it changes color." He tilted it again and Katara saw rising waves of orange and violet inside the stone.

"Like a sunset!"

"Thus the name."

"…Mine doesn't do that."

"It does a little bit. You tilt it one way and you can see all the layers." Katara gave him a frown and he shrugged. "I had it for a long time."

"This one is way prettier," Katara said, staring again at the necklace.

"You can have it."

Her jaw dropped. "What?"

"If I get to be Fire Lord, I'll give it to you."

"You mean it?"

"I mean it." He cleared his throat. "It's only fair, right? I had your necklace for a while. And you should have a thank-you gift. For everything you've done."

"Does that mean Sokka and Toph and Aang get presents, too?"

"Oh, um…sure." He jerked a thumb over at the scrolls. "I'll just give Toph back her family's land. We sort of, um, took some of it a long time ago." He began putting the necklace away. "I guess we should keep looking for clues."

Katara nodded. "Right." She moved from the cabinet to a bureau that appeared full of odd bolts of silk and very old, arcane instruments in jade and turtle-duck shell – a magnifying glass, an astrolabe and an abacus, a kind of flute. Digging through them all offered no reward, however. She tested the bottom of the bureau for secret compartments, but found none. Tugging a nearby tapestry did yield results, however: the rug at her feet pulled back to expose another circular door, this one in the floor.

"That goes to the Catacombs," Zuko said.

Katara knelt and pulled the rug back into place. "Have you found anything in those scrolls that looks like a plan?"

"No," Zuko said. "They're all marriage records and land deeds. And final proclamations."

"Nothing even remotely incriminating?"

Zuko unfurled a scroll. "Fire Lord Rizu left a whole house on Ember Island to his pet dragon-hawk."

"That's generous."

Zuko replaced the scroll. "Maybe they hid it inside a really boring-looking scroll so no one would be tempted to look."

Katara nodded. She started with feeling inside the suits of armor. Nothing was there but dust. Wrinkling her nose, she opened the colourful urns and found black, sandy ashes waiting for her. "Um, do you think…?"

Zuko looked as though he might be ill. "Azula _could_ have hidden the plans there…"

Katara looked away. "You should do this. This used to be one of _your _ancestors, not mine."

Zuko gave her a look highly reminiscent of a wet pygmy puma, then stood up. "Fine, but you take the scrolls."

"Gladly." Katara moved over to the scrolls, but found herself unable to truly examine them. Watching Zuko slowly roll up his sleeve and, cringing, insert his hand into the urn was a lot more interesting. And digusting. She found she couldn't quite look away. She watched a shiver go through him as he plunged his hand in further.

He paused. "My ancestor's spirit is going to haunt me for this. I just know it."

Privately, Katara suspected this might actually be true. You didn't just go rooting around in someone's ashes and expect it all to be okay afterward. Zuko hadn't even asked for forgiveness from whomever – or _what_ever -- might be listening before sticking his hand inside the urn. But making him feel worse wouldn't help. She cupped her hands around her mouth. _"Zuuuuko, I am the ghost of your great great grand-uncle Waaaang-"_

Zuko dissolved into suppressed laughter. "Don't make me laugh; I'll spill it everywhere." He paused. "Why is this even here? This isn't where we normally keep our ashes."

"Maybe it's Fire Lord Rizu's pet dragon-hawk," Katara said. "It is kind of a small urn."

"Great. I'm going to be haunted by a ghostly dragon-hawk. Fantastic."

"Maybe if you offer it some mice…?"

Zuko rolled his eyes heavenward and said: "Aren't you supposed to be looking at the scrolls?"

"Sorry." Katara turned her attention to the scrolls and began pulling one out. Then another, and another. Zuko was right; they were all family trees and birth certificates. At least, from what she could tell: most of them used the archaic, classical script characteristic of official Fire Nation documents. She could sound out the names, and the characters for family relationships hadn't changed, but everything beyond that read like gibberish. Nothing, however, seemed like a diagram or plan for a weapon. She saw layouts for homes, old ships, and one very thick scroll containing multiple maps for the whole palace: rooms, passages, plumbing, pneumatic tubes for locking and unlocking doors, everything. But she saw nothing that might relate to the weapon.

"I don't think the plans are here," she said. "Where else would your dad keep them?"

"Maybe in his room," Zuko said. He pulled his hand free of the urn and tried shaking the ashes free. "Or Azula's. Or maybe there's a whole other room we don't even know about."

"I don't think so," Katara said. She unfurled the palace scroll. "These plans show the whole palace from top to bottom. There aren't any other secret rooms."

"So if it's not here, then it has to be wherever they're keeping the Mechanist."

Katara nodded. "That would make sense. He'd need access to his plans in order to complete them, right? I just thought Ozai would have a copy lying around somewhere." She remembered the crackle of candy wrappers and winced. "Or maybe he got a good look and burned the evidence?"

Zuko nodded. "They both hate leaving loose ends. I was almost one of them."

Katara sighed. "But where do you think the Mechanist could be?"

"Somewhere he'd have lots of room to work, and lots of people to help him," Zuko said. "If this weapon is anything like the drill or the war balloon, we're talking about something on a massive scale."

Goosebumps rose on Katara's arms. She hugged them. What could Ozai possibly have planned for the Southern Water Tribe? Grappling hooks that could rip the glaciers apart? Some sort of nasty poison bomb that would kill all the animals and eliminate the food supply? "What if it's already on its way?"

"What?"

"We saw that fleet headed south. What if it's too late?"

Zuko shook his head. He crouched on his haunches. "You can't think like that. Even if the weapon is on its way, we still have a chance to get your people the information they need to protect themselves from it." He firmed his lips. "Right now we have to think about where the Mechanist would be. I think the best bet is the prison tower."

Katara pursed her lips and nodded. She looked around the vault. "Do you think we can make it to the tower by tonight?"

He stood. "No. We can't. We have to do it tomorrow night." His eyes narrowed. "And we have to figure out a way to get there without being seen."

They continued searching the vault for clues, but found none. Finally, when Katara asked him how much time he thought had passed, Zuko threw down a sack of gold in frustration and said: "Too long." He stalked out of the vault and she followed. "Do you think you can put them to sleep again, once we get out?" he asked.

"Sure," Katara said. She looked up at the trapdoor. "But, um, how do we get up there?"

Zuko craned his neck backward to look up. Then he looked down at her. "Get on my shoulders."

She took a step away. "Are you joking?"

"You're not tall enough to make the jump." He opened his palms in a conciliatory gesture. "It'll be like with Toph. Only you. On my shoulders. For a minute. And then you can climb up." He coughed. "Unless you have a better idea."

She did _not_ have a better idea, however, which made the situation twice as annoying. Katara folded her arms. "Well, right now my idea is that you should snuff out those sconces and make sure everything's the way we found it. Otherwise your dad will be suspicious the next time he comes down here to have tea with his dummy."

"Will do." Zuko adjusted the urns, tapped a couple of scrolls back into place, and snuffed the sconces. In the sudden darkness, she heard him shutting the vault's immense door. Then he sparked a fire in one hand and knelt under the trapdoor. "Get on."

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy?"

"Will you just get on?"

"Fine." Katara carefully draped herself over his shoulders. It was surprising how warm he could get; she suspected that Toph rather liked having her own personal hot water bottle when Zuko carried her around. "Like this?"

"No, my shoulders. Put your legs around my head." He coughed. "I mean, on both sides of my head."

"But I'll fall off when you stand up!"

"You won't fall off. I promise."

"If I fall, you're getting me a hair pin to match that necklace." She hesitantly placed her feet on either side of Zuko's head. Then he was clamping down on her knees with both hands and standing up, and there was a moment when she was absolutely certain she would fall backward, but he leaned forward to compensate and she merely rocked and ended up gripping his hair in panic.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!" Her hands flew away from his scalp and landed on his mouth and nose.

"Not there, either!"

"I don't know where to put my hands!"

"Use them to find the trapdoor!"

Katara huffed and extended her hands upward. Zuko sighed fire, briefly illuminating the room. She ran her hands over the ceiling until she felt a slit that indicated the trapdoor. Zuko breathed fire again – she was a bit nervous about how close that flame was to her knees – and she tried prying the door open. It wouldn't budge. "It won't open!"

"Try sliding your finger in."

She felt around the trapdoor for a corner and pulled with one finger. The door snapped open reluctantly, hitting her in the nose. "Ow."

"Can you climb up?"

"I can't see."

Zuko blew fire in a steady, measured stream. Katara used the light to peer up into the passage. "Okay. I'm going to try." She reached both arms up, leaned forward, and tried to find a grip. Her hands squeaked along the polished surface of the slide. It felt like steel, but she couldn't find a rivet to cling to. Grunting, she tried anyway – maybe there was one up ahead that she just couldn't see. Her fingernails scraped against metal. "I can't find a foothold!"

"Stand on my hands," Zuko said. "I'll push you."

"I'll hurt your hands."

"You won't hurt them. Just jump when I push."

"…Okay."

Zuko took hold of her feet, his palms warm and slightly damp under them. They trembled under her weight. "On three," he said. "One, two, three!" He pushed. She jumped. For a moment, her hands and feet clung to the sides of the passage. Then she tried moving upward, lost her grip, and slid down in a jumble of limbs that landed on Zuko. He coughed.

"So," she said, staring into the darkness. "We might need another plan."

His voice was in her hair. "Yeah." He didn't move. For just a second, she felt his breath under her. It tickled her neck and she felt the press of his ribs at her back. She wondered if maybe she was hurting him – she had fallen directly on him, after all.

Grunting, Katara lifted herself off him and sat on her knees. "Are you okay? Did I crush you?"

He lit a fire in one hand. The light exposed him lying on the floor; he pushed himself up on his elbows and shook his head. "No. I'm fine."

She glanced to her left. "Where does that stairway go?"

"…Ozai's room."

She hung her head. "Great."

"We can try the trapdoor again."

"No. Maybe you can climb it, but I can't. I mean, you're welcome to try. Maybe you could get up there. You're a lot sneakier than I am."

He shook his head and stood up. "No. I'm going with you."

She offered a tiny smile. "I was kind of hoping you'd say that."

Zuko smiled back and held his hand out. "Let's go."

* * *

The stairs leading to Ozai's room grew progressively steeper, and with each step, Katara's tread grew a little heavier. _This is a terrible idea. It'll never work. He'll wake up. _"What if he wakes up?"

"Bend him back to sleep," Zuko said. "You did it for the other two."

"But what if I can't?"

"You have to." Zuko stopped short. He stood two stairs above her, and this made him seem much taller. "Otherwise he might attack you."

Katara bit her lip. "This would be a lot easier if I could just take his bending away, like Ty Lee."

"You could bend the blood in his arms." A shadow crossed his face. "You could even make him burn himself."

Katara had not considered this. If her bloodbending were strong enough, she wouldn't have to worry about blood vessels or cutting off Ozai's air. She could simply make him hurt himself. She shuddered. It reminded her too much of Hama. "That doesn't seem fair."

"He won't give you time to be fair." Zuko continued up the stairs. "And he doesn't fight fair. He never has."

Katara wanted to ask him what he meant, but the stiffness in his posture told her not to. Soon they were at the door, another circular one, and Zuko was pressing his ear to it. "I can't hear anything," he whispered.

"Do you know which part of the room it opens up to?"

"No. I haven't been in this room in years. He might have changed it." He frowned. "There's a scroll cabinet. Maybe we're behind that."

"Won't Ozai know something's a little weird if he just sees one of his cabinets opening up on its own?"

"If he sees it," Zuko said. He turned. "If he sees us, it's over. We'll have to put a stop to him right here if that happens. Otherwise we'll never make it out alive. And even then, it's a slim chance. We'd have to escape the palace before Azula found us."

"_Put a stop to him?"_ Katara stepped back. "Do you mean what I think you mean?"

"Yes. I do." Zuko put his hand to the door. "We can still go back. We can try going the other way, again."

Katara thought again about the slippery tube leading down to the vault, and how impossible it had been to climb. Her stomach seemed full of wriggling seaslugs. She had no idea how Zuko could possibly be so calm. Maybe because he had faced his father before, and lived to tell about it? But would she be that lucky? What if she panicked? What if it was just like that time by the river, and she turned around and there he was and she just _froze?_

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

"This whole mission was a bad idea," Zuko said. "But we've made it this far."

"Yeah, because we avoided getting caught!"

"They caught us at the teahouse. They caught us when we ran away under the prison. And we're still here."

Katara folded her arms. "You know, your optimism is kind of scaring me. I'm beginning to think you're not really Zuko."

"I'm not optimistic. I'm never optimistic." Zuko took a step away from the door. Suddenly he seemed to take up the whole tunnel. "On the day of the eclipse, I told Ozai that his destiny would end with the Avatar. But if he attacks either one of us, I will destroy him. Personally."

Katara willed her heart to stop racing. For a moment he had looked so much like his old self that she had to remind herself that she didn't need to brace her feet like that, that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Is that what I sounded like when I told you I would do anything to protect Aang?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

"You're telling me." Zuko sighed steam. "I just want you to know what could happen. He could be asleep. He could attack us. And if he does, I'll be there." He blinked. "Do you know how to get out? You go into the office, down the ladder, and run for the deepest tunnel you can find-"

"Zuko."

"What?"

"Just open the door."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do it now before I change my mind. Please."

"All right." He took a deep breath, sent fire bursting from his hand, and gently pushed open the door. It made no creak, and opened onto darkness. Katara listened for snoring, and heard none. There was a faint grunt, and the sound of fabric, and then Ozai was walking toward them-

-_naked._

Then Zuko's hand was over her eyes and she didn't know whether to laugh or be sick or maybe even start crying, and she heard water in the next room and then Zuko was pulling her out of the room and pushing her into the office. He opened the liquor cabinet, pulled a bottle, opened the trapdoor, and helped her inside. "Slide down!" he said tersely, and she gripped the sides of the ladder with her feet before letting herself go. Zuko followed. She landed on the grate just before him, and he slid open the panel leading to his own room before pushing her inside and pulling the panel down again. They slumped against the wall together.

"So," he said. "That happened."

"It's okay. It wasn't that big. _Bad._ I mean. It wasn't that _bad._" Katara buried her face in her hands. Blood throbbed under her skin. "I just said that. Wow. Please don't ever look at me again."

Beside her, Zuko trembled silently. For a moment, she thought he might be crying – his breath came so quickly and he seemed to almost choke on it. Then he slumped to the floor, knees drawn to his chest, and Katara heard laughter. Her humiliation only intensified. Bad enough that Ozai's royal parts were showing. Now Zuko had to laugh at her for tripping on her words. She stood up. "If you're just going to laugh at me-"

"I'm not," Zuko said. He lit a fire in his palm and then he was looking up at her from the floor, eyes wet, and a huge, impossible smile across his face. "I thought he was going to kill us. And then…" He giggled. "And then you said…"

Katara covered her face. "I didn't mean to! It's not like I'd know, anyway!" Her face burned. "I mean, sometimes the women got to talking but it was the winter and the nights are really long-"

"Just the nights?"

Katara's jaw dropped. She bent before she could think, and Zuko's fire snuffed out as she shuttered his mouth with his own hands. Pain blossomed up inside her head but she didn't care. "Shut. Up. I should wash your mouth out."

"_Mmm?"_

"I could do it, too. I could waterbend the soap straight down your throat."

"_Mmm."_

"Don't think I won't. Because I will. I will do it."

"_Mmm mm?"_

"Yes. I will."

"_Mmm mmm…"_

Katara let his hands go. "Aang's the one who had a dream where your dad had no pants on, anyway."

Fire sparked in Zuko's hand. His eyes had gone terribly wide. "You're joking."

"No. He, um, went a little crazy before the invasion."

Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "I really need to have a talk with that kid…"

"Oh, stop." She pulled her own hair straight. She focused on it, rather than his face. "Well. I should be going."

Zuko was up on his feet. "You're all sweaty."

She frowned. "Gee, thanks, Zuko."

"I mean, um, you could get cleaned up. In there." He pointed to another door within the room. "Otherwise they might wonder what happened. Because, um, your hair's all messed up."

Her hands flew to her scalp. "It is?"

"Well, it's kind of everywhere-"

Katara bolted straight past him. He directed fire at a sconce just before she shut the door. Inside the room, she found a simple sink and tub and privy, and, to her great delight, a mirror. Zuko was right. Her hair _was_ everywhere. She quickly turned on the taps, bent water from them, and used it to smooth down her hair. Grinning, she shucked off her tunic and grabbed a bar of soap. Best to get in a little bath if she could. She could even wash her wrappings. She was busy unbinding them when Zuko scratched faintly at the door.

"Don't come in!"

"Okay, okay, not so loud!" Silence, then: "What's taking so long?"

"I'm bathing."

"…In the tub?"

"No, with waterbending." She stuck her tongue out at the door. "My clothes are all dirty, too."

"…Oh. Well, I'll, um, just be in bed. Waiting. To get in, I mean! To the, um, you know. The room." He muttered something further, then Katara heard shuffling and the puff of a body throwing itself down on a mattress. Shaking her head, she concentrated on her bending – it felt so good, after all this time – and wrung her clothes out to before bending the water free of them. She sniffed them – she would no longer leave a scent trail a mile wide, at least. Sighing, she emerged to find Zuko lying on his side, the covers already pulled up absurdly high. He had lit a single sconce in the corner of the room nearest the bed.

"Well, thanks," Katara said. "For letting me use your facilities, I mean. And, for, you know, everything else." She smiled. "Like, um, not getting me killed. And my necklace."

"It's not yours, yet." He sat up, pulled his knees up. "We have to make it out of this, first."

"Oh, I'm getting that necklace. Just you wait." She rolled on her toes. "I guess I'll just be going."

Zuko threw the covers back. "I'll get the door."

"They're just panels-"

But he already had it open, and he was standing there waiting. Rolling her eyes, Katara ducked through. He followed, and tapped open the door leading to her room. Katara stepped inside. "Thanks."

"Sure." His fingers rolled along the panel. "So. Tomorrow night."

"Yeah. We should, um, try going somewhere else."

"Prison?" He swallowed. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"No, it's a good idea. The prison tower. We should look there." She shifted weight. "Um, how do we get there, again?"

"…I have no idea."

"Good. So, we should make a plan."

"Maybe we should sleep on it," Zuko said.

"Yeah. Good idea. Sleeping." Somehow, she wasn't tired. Maybe it was the way she had splashed herself clean, or the rush of defeating Ozai in however small and sneaky a way, or maybe she just didn't want to think about what she would see when she fell asleep. "This was fun."

"It was?" Zuko blinked. "I mean, it was. I had fun." He winced. "I'm not very good at having fun."

"You're good at sneaking around though." Now she winced. "I mean, um, being sneaky. Not sneaking around."

"Right."

"I'll, um, talk to you tomorrow, I guess."

"Right. Good. Tomorrow."

"So, goodnight," Katara said.

"Yeah. Goodnight." He frowned. "Good morning, maybe."

"I miss windows."

"Me too." He smiled. "Goodnight."

* * *

Katara slept late the next day. She woke up just in time to hear pounding on her door, and to watch a guard entering her room with a tray. "Late night?" the guard asked.

Katara's heart skipped. "Well, it's a little bit difficult to sleep with Azula in the same house," she said.

"Sure you're not just pining for your boyfriend?"

Katara threw back the covers, marched over to the guard, and took the tray. "For your information, Water Tribe women do not _pine._" She stuck her nose in the air, and made a show of sashaying over to her bed.

"Looks like somebody wants to eat in the dark," the guard said, and slammed the door.

A moment later, golden light streamed through the tiny crack between the wall and the floor. Katara crouched down beside it. "Thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it." Against the wall, she heard him shifting. "So, I think I have a plan for tonight."

"That's good," Katara said.

"You're not going to like it."

"Try me."

"I can't _believe_ you talked me into this," Katara said.

They stood in a hall of bones. Immense, toothy skulls, their teeth still sharp and gleaming with varnish, lined the floor. Massive rib-cages formed the ceiling. When they called it the Dragonbone Catacombs, they weren't kidding. _Did Aang really face a creature this big?_ "It's only for tonight," Zuko said. "If we find the Mechanist, then we can go home."

He was right. They already knew about some of the Fire Lord's plans. All they really needed was more information on the weapon – well, that, and to find Longshot and Smellerbee. The plan was to use the fire sages' outfits as disguises with which to enter the prison; Zuko said the sages commanded a lot of respect and no one would look twice if they pretended to be there visiting prisoners. But one thing at a time: first, they needed a couple of outfits. And a lot of luck.

The outfits were tricky. They had to follow a waterpipe and the sounds of splashing and grumbling, to a doorway billowing steam. Apparently, the sages had their own private sauna down here. "I'll be right back," Zuko said, and darted into the room. He returned a moment later with red fabric and two hats over his shoulder. They fled down another hall, then entered a room filled with bones. These were broken, however; they had entered some sort of workshop where the ancient fossils could be repaired. "Put this on," Zuko said, and threw her a fire sage's outfit.

"What about our other clothes?" Katara asked. She plucked at Piandao's gift.

"Just stuff them under the tunic. You'll look fat," Zuko said. He pulled off his shirt and threw it at her. Then he turned around, and Katara had one second to shut her eyes before she heard fabric sliding down and being kicked across the room. Turning, she started undoing her clothes. Zuko was already putting on his fire sage uniform – Katara had only started stuffing the black clothes into the waistband of her new pants when he said: "I hate these hats."

Katara half-turned and saw Zuko in full fire sage gear. She had to restrain a laugh. He had chosen an ensemble that was way too big for him; even the tall, conical hat sagged down on his face. "It covers your scar a little bit, though," she said. She struggled into the shoulder-guards; a moment later Zuko was pulling them down across her. "These are so heavy!"

"I forgot the bracelets," Zuko said.

"I think our lack of beards are more of a problem," Katara said. "You don't happen to carry one around, do you?"

"I'm not your brother," Zuko said. His eyes narrowed and he searched the room. "There has to be something…"

"Wool!" Katara pointed to a box overflowing with the rough white stuff – it looked like it had come directly from the koalambs whose wool had once made Aang's bed prior to the invasion. Currently, it tumbled out of a half-stuffed bird: clearly whoever used this room fancied himself an amateur taxidermist. Cringing, she grabbed some and began shredding it in her fingers, working it into something beard-like. "It's not the Wang and Sapphire Fire, but it might work."

Zuko stuffed some of the wool under his hat. "Who are Wang and Sapphire Fire?"

"They're me and Sokka," she said. "We had to pretend to be Aang's parents, once."

"But you and Aang look nothing alike! I at least have the same hair color!"

"You weren't with us!"

"Well, obviously!" He licked his fingers and tried using his spit to stick the wool to his chin. It failed miserably. "We need glue."

Katara raised a hand, bent condensation from the pipes above, and blended it with the dirt of the stones at their feet. "How's mud?"

"Mud is good," Zuko said. "You first."

Katara smeared some across her face and started applying the wool. "Don't you want some?"

"Get your eyebrows," Zuko said. "You don't look enough like an old man."

Katara carefully stuck more wool there. "How about now?"

"Fine." Zuko stole some of her mud, and started making his own beard. Katara moved for the door. "And quit swaying," Zuko added.

"I'm not swaying."

"When you walk, you sway," he said.

"I do not!"

"You do too! You need to walk like an old man! You know, stiff." He held up a single finger and spoke in his uncle's voice: _"Age is a thief in life's long, dark night, Miss Katara."_

Katara suppressed giggles. "Just put your beard on," she said. "Wait, no, make it a mustache! It'll cover more."

Zuko sneezed. "It itches…"

"Don't sneeze! You'll sneeze your disguise off!"

Zuko finally stuck on his mustache and eyebrows, secured his hat, and moved for the door. Silently, they emerged from the room and tried their old man walks. Katara tried to remember the way Master Pakku had moved; somehow it had never struck her as elderly. "Just lead with your stomach," Zuko said, and stuck his gut out the way General Iroh had used to.

"I'll ruin my back-"

"Good, good, you sound old-"

"_You two!"_

They froze. "Yes?" Zuko asked in his uncle's voice, without turning around.

"They've been waiting for you outside! It's time to get moving! Follow me!" The owner of the voice marched past them and down the hall. Shrugging at each other, Zuko and Katara followed, occasionally hobbling when they remembered to do so. "Honestly, you old folks," the younger sage said. "Those prisoners' bodies aren't going to just cremate themselves, you know."

And before Katara could ask what this meant – because she desperately wanted it to mean something other than what she guessed – they were outside, and there was a palanquin. And Zuko was letting her lean on him as she stumbled toward their new vehicle. He levered himself up beside her. "To the tower." Then the palanquin rose from the ground, and they were leaving the city.

* * *

Katara had wanted the capitol to be ugly. Whenever she imagined it, she had pictured houses of iron, like Fire Navy ships beached on land, all spikes and rivets and maybe enemy heads on pikes. Now, travelling through its sleeping streets, she wished for daylight. It would expose the milky stone and the elaborate, perfumed gardens, and shed light on the numerous ponds she saw once the road raised a little on the way out of the crater. The capitol was a jewel nestled inside the dead volcano, far removed from the coal smoke and fish reek of the industrial neighborhoods near the harbor. But it was also quiet: Katara found herself missing the constant noise of the Oyster District. She missed the hurry and hustle. And her room, which had windows. And the food, which tasted better and arrived hand-delivered to her by a former prince.

The palanquin pulled up at the gates to the prison tower, and as it lowered, a lump entered Katara's throat and the seaslugs once again took up residence in her gut. Zuko offered her his arm, though, and she was grateful of the chance to hunch over and lean on it. Slowly, they shuffled inside the gates. Under her hand, Zuko's arm had started to sweat. She squeezed it, and he quickened their pace.

At the door, the guards saluted. Zuko and Katara did the same. "They're in the usual place," said their escort, and began leading them inside the prison.

Despite having spent so much time there, Katara had only seen a small piece of the prison's interior – her cage, and the Dai Li's interrogation room. Inside, it was huge: stairways that coiled back on themselves like serpents, labyrinthine passages that seemed designed to trap any possible escapees. Their escort led them through doorway after doorway, down and down and down until Katara started to sweat from the heat. They had to be close to a furnace, or whatever system had generated the hot air piped the room where Katara's old cage had hung. Down here the prison clamour diminished, and so Katara swore she could hear her own heart thudding when their escort paused at a thick iron door. "These ones don't have anybody waiting," he said. He coughed. "I'll, uh, just wait out here if it's all the same."

"Thank you," Zuko said, and ushered Katara through the door. It clanged closed behind them, and then they were alone.

In a room full of dead bodies.

The smell hit Katara first. It wasn't the smell of the dead – Katara knew that smell from when animals beached themselves on the ice or when their travels took them past rotting carcasses. This was a burnt smell, a sort of greasy, set-in smell like an unclean kitchen. The gaping kilns, their iron doors swinging wide, told her all she needed to know. They were in the prison crematorium.

Katara crept up behind Zuko. Something about the still, shrouded shapes on the floor made her need the closeness of a living being. Her fingers brushed his shoulder and he startled. "Don't do that!"

"I'm sorry! I'm just a little creeped out!"

His hand found hers and gripped it hard. "They're dead. They can't hurt us."

"They can haunt us, though. We're not really fire sages. We don't have the authority to…do whatever it is we're supposed to be doing."

"I think we're supposed to bless them," Zuko said.

"Yeah, well, we can't," Katara said. "We're not the genuine article. Their spirits will be angry. This is wrong."

"We might be all they have," Zuko said. "We should do something before the guards figure out who we really are." He pulled away, and quickly blasted fire into the kilns. He turned to her, licking his lips. "All you have to do is help me lift them," he said.

Her stomach turned. "You owe me big," she said. "When this is over, you have to do something really, really nice for me."

"I'll give your tribe the Southern Fleet," he said.

Katara blinked. "Really? Because I was really just hoping for a day at the spa."

He almost smiled. "You know, when this is over, you really have to start thinking bigger." He moved toward the body closest to the door, and knelt. "Um, say something."

Katara knelt, too. "Um…whoever you are, I hope that you're happier now, and that your next life ends in a better place than this. And please forgive us for not being sages, but it's for a really good cause." She winced. "Is that okay?"

Zuko nodded. He looked a little green. "That's fine." He shut his eyes and murmured something, then nodded at the body. "Let's move him."

Katara tried telling herself that it would be like carrying a big bundle of clothes, or a sleeping person, but that didn't stop the tremor that shuddered up her spine the moment she touched the dead body. They carried him over to the kiln, then awkwardly loaded him inside. "We can't just throw him in there like garbage," Katara said.

"He's not garbage," Zuko said. "He's helping us. Without him, we couldn't have gotten inside the prison."

He began stuffing the body in the kiln. He grabbed a lever beneath the kiln door, and the body dropped away into the flames. They sighed in unison. The lump in Katara's throat seemed to get a lot harder. Her eyes stung. Zuko's hand settled awkwardly on her shoulder. "It's okay," he said.

"I know he was probably a bad guy," Katara said. "I know he probably did something bad, but…"

His hand fell to her back and rubbed a loose circle there. "At least it's better than the firing squad," he said. He swallowed. "I can do it by myself, if you want."

For a moment, she seriously considered it. Then she imagined herself sitting with her back turned to Zuko while he did all the hard work, and shook her head. "No. It's all right. I'll be okay."

After that, it got easier. Zuko continued murmuring something over the bodies, and Katara simply closed her eyes and expressed her hopes for the prisoner's spirit. Then she noticed Zuko carefully peeling the wrapping away from each corpse's face. It was just a little bit near the eye, but he would sigh and seem to walk faster afterward. "Are you…checking?" She gulped. "For someone we know?"

"What? Oh. No. Why would I do that? Our f… Everyone we know is outside. And the Freedom Fighters…" He blinked. "They're so strong. There's no need to worry."

Katara pulled the lever. "It's okay if you say 'our friends.' Toph is my friend and yours, too. And the same with Aang. So you can say 'our.'"

Zuko seemed at once taller and younger just then, like a tree whose old, dead bark had split during another year's growth. "Thanks." He moved toward another body.

"How did you know Jet?" Katara asked, helping him lift it.

"We stole food together while crossing the Serpent's Pass." His good eyebrow lifted. "And you?"

"He wanted me to help him flood a Fire Nation colony," Katara said. "I refused. But it was too late."

When he wasn't looking a little bit distracted, Zuko maintained a constant scowl, and now it deepened into real disapproval. To her chagrin, she found herself looking away. "What happened?"

"Sokka warned the villagers. They had just enough time to evacuate. But I helped Jet destroy that place, because I was too stupid to see what he was doing." Katara stared at her too-large sage's shoes. "All he had to do was say a bunch of nice things and I just _believed _him and _trusted_ him and all along he just wanted to _use_ me."

"But he tried to make up for it," Zuko said.

"He kept on saying how much I could do with my bending. Like he really thought it was special. Like _I_ was special. And that wasn't it at all; he didn't even like me-"

"He liked you." Zuko brushed his palms on his knees and moved away.

"You don't know that for sure," Katara said. "You weren't there."

"I knew Jet," Zuko said, as though that were supposed to explain something.

She frowned. "Did he talk about me, or something?"

"No."

"So how do you know-"

"I just know! It's one of those things!"

"One of _what_ things?"

"Things! I don't know! Help me move this last body."

Katara crossed her arms. "I'll help you when you explain yourself."

Zuko rolled his eyes. For a moment, he looked pained and put-upon, much like his uncle, and his woolly new mustache only enhanced the effect. "He _liked_ you. Lots of people _like_ you. Aang _likes_ you. One of our guards _likes_ you. Those two morons at the teahouse _liked_ you. Haru-"

"Haru does _not_-"

"Yes. He does."

"You're seeing things!"

"I see him gawking at you!"

"Haru does not _gawk_."

"He gawks like a yokel on his first market day."

"_Yokel?"_ She was having a hard time suppressing her laughter. "Did you just use the word _yokel_ in a sentence?"

"Oh, be quiet and help me move this one. He's huge."

Sighing, Katara crouched and helped Zuko lift the former prisoner. He was right; the body was enormous. Her elbows started shaking. "Uh, he's a little heavy."

"No kidding."

Katara's arms gave out and the body dropped. Something rolled away from the corpse; it looked like another tiny model urchin. Katara picked it up and examined it. Unlike Ozai's toy, this was made of iron and not gold. Its spikes still retracted when she pressed it, though. "Why would a prisoner be carrying one of your dad's playing pieces?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Zuko said. A knock sounded on the door and they stood. "We're almost done," Zuko barked.

"There's more to do," the guard said through the door. "Day shift's about to head out; time for the funeral."

Katara's blood went icy. The day shift was about to start? How long had their trip taken? How much time did they have left? Zuko was already moving. He crouched low, slung the body over one shoulder, heaved, and dashed to the kiln. He jumped up to help wedge the body inside, then slammed the door. He held out the little urchin toy to Katara. "Hold this."

"Where?"

He merely blinked at her. Her face heating, Katara dropped it down into her wrappings. Then Zuko opened the door, ushered her in front of him. "We are ready," Katara said, in her best Master Pakku voice. "Please lead on."

The guard nodded, then led them to another level. Behind two large iron doors was a circular room with a broad and shallow firepit that held no flames and sat under an immense hanging chimney. Around it sat women and children and a few people who might have been brothers or even husbands. They wore ordinary work clothes with new white armbands over each bicep. And over the firepit were more bodies.

"If you could just perform the usual service," the guard said.

_Perform the usual service? _Katara had no idea what a Fire Nation funeral looked like. She cast a quick glance at Zuko. He licked his lips and moved slowly for the firepit. Katara stood beside him. Zuko made the traditional salute, and Katara quickly followed. The assembly saluted back.

He opened his mouth. "My…my companion is too ill to give the service," he said. "You will have to listen to me, and I am a little rusty. I require more training."

Not even a hint of laughter. Zuko straightened, then raised his arms. "Legend says the dragons granted us the gift of fire to warm and sustain us," he said. "Now we return our beloved friends and family to its embrace. May their spirits rise like sparks to join the Great Dragons of the Four Skies." And, taking a deep breath, he lunged forward and ignited the firepit. The assembled crowd flinched a little. Children turned away. Zuko raised the flames higher and soon all the bodies had caught. Katara backed away. As one, the families rose and began shuffling out. One very thin woman hung back, though, and she carried a baby. Timidly, she stepped forward to Zuko, then bowed deeply.

"Excuse me, but would you please consider blessing my child?"

Zuko stiffened, then placed his hand over the infant's head. His sooty thumb made a mark on the skin. Katara caught herself peering around him. _"A spark in the mind, an ember in the heart, a fire in the belly, and destiny in your hands,"_ Zuko said, touching each place in turn.

"Thank you," the woman whispered. She moved away.

"One more thing," Katara said. Her hand darted out and made a crescent moon shape from the soot Zuko had left on the child's forehead. "The Mark of the Brave," she said.

"…I've never heard of that one."

"It's foreign," Katara said, hoping her voice sounded ancient and not too proud. "But every little bit helps."

The woman shifted her weight. "I'm sorry, but I have nothing to give in exchange…"

"Tell us about this prison," Zuko said. "Surely you have been coming here for some time?"

"The prison?"

"We want to know if the guards are keeping the old ways or not," Katara said, hoping her lie sounded appropriately old and crotchety.

The woman frowned, but nodded. "The prison is improving," she said. "Before… Well, my husband said that it seemed less crowded. They were moving the foreigners and non-benders to a different prison."

"Why?" Katara asked.

The woman shrugged. She re-settled her child on her arm. "I'm not sure. My husband could bend. But he said they were taking everyone else they could." She seemed to search her memory. "I think it was some kind of new work project within the capitol. They probably wanted earthbenders to do all the digging."

"That sounds…highly unorthodox," Zuko said. "Thank you." Then he was ushering Katara out of the room, despite her incoherent coughs of protest, and he said to the guard: "We're finished here." And when they finally reached the palanquin, he said only: "Doubletime."

"We didn't even look for the Mechanist," Katara whispered in his ear.

"He's not there," Zuko said.

"Well, where is he?"

Zuko stared at the softly paling sky. "I don't know."

* * *

Their arrival at the Catacombs was a flurry of excuses and muttering and finding a room to change in. Once inside their black clothes, it was a dead run through tunnels for the ladder. Each time Katara faltered, Zuko reached back and grabbed her hand and pulled her a little further. Her heart felt as though it was going to come out of her throat, somehow. Then he was pushing her up the ladder, and making promises about letting her bathe and letting her sleep if she would only just hurry. She dragged herself up the ladder and into his room and he started the taps before she could ask. Then he was getting out of his clothes and scrubbing, throwing water over his hair and while she stared. "We have to wash the sweat off," he said. "They'll smell it. They'll know we were running."

Raising one eyebrow, Katara wicked the sweat off him with bending. "And now?"

"You're a genius." He quickly raised his hands. "Not that I'm saying that just so you'll help me bring down part of the Fire Nation. Which you already are. But not because of anything I said. Right?"

"…What are you talking about?"

"I didn't trick you," Zuko said. "Like he did. Jet. With the flood."

Katara was too tired to laugh. "No. You didn't trick me." She snorted. "And it's lucky for you, otherwise I'd have frozen you to a tree, like I did to him."

"You froze him to a tree?"

"I learned from the best."

He grinned. "That was some of my best rope, you know."

She rolled her eyes. "Aww, poor Zuko lost his good rope…"

"The others wanted to use shipping twine on you. But I was more civilized."

"_Shipping twine?"_

"It's for tying crates," Zuko said. "It's very rough. You would have hated it."

"Oh, and the 'good' rope made everything all better."

"It makes a very smooth knot," Zuko said. "In fact, I'm getting your dad some. He could use it."

"My dad doesn't tie me up!"

"I meant for sailing."

"Oh." She blinked. "I think we should be in bed, now."

"We're tired," Zuko said. "And breakfast is due any minute."

As though the Universe had heard him, a knock sounded at Zuko's door. "Stay here," he said. He jumped into the other room and under his covers. Katara heard an exaggerated yawn that quickly became a single word: "Azula."

"Good morning, Zuko. How are you enjoying your confinement?"

"I'm not. What do you want?"

"Why, Zuko, can't you count? Today is the big day. Soon you'll get to see your precious Uncle Fatso again. And that darling little earthbender, the blind one, what's her name-"

"Today isn't the day," Zuko said. "Two days ago, you said we had three days. There's still one more day."

"Oh, is that what I told you? I suppose I neglected to mention when I sent the message. I sent it three days ago. You know, while you were busy waiting so impatiently for Katara and Ty Lee to finish their little chat." Azula paused. "I hear you made quite the impression on Li and Lo, Zuko. All that blustering, it can't be good for you. Ty Lee says you'll get a gray hair."

"Get out."

Azula sighed. "Oh, Zuko. You just never learn, do you? Perhaps the waterbender will give me a better welcome."

"Leave her alone."

"Or what?" She laughed. "The only reason Father is keeping you two alive is because I said I have use for you. Don't make me change my mind by doing something stupid."

"I don't care what either of you does to me."

"What makes you think we'd start with _you_, Zuko?" Her voice moved toward the door. "Hurting you is just dessert."

The door squealed open, then clanged shut. Katara stumbled out from behind the bathroom door and Zuko was opening the panel and he said: "Hurry. Stay under the covers. Don't let her see these clothes."

But Katara was already pulling them off and ditching them on his floor, kicking them off as she moved onto the steel grate and into her own room. It was easier than thinking. It was easier than hearing Azula's words in her mind. It was easier than realizing that soon she would stand before her brother and her father and Teo and General Iroh and Aang with _nothing_, not a shred of a clue about where the Mechanist was or what his new weapon looked like or even what had happened to Longshot and Smellerbee. They had failed. "I won't let her hurt you," Zuko whispered, and shut the panel. Then Katara was alone, and she had barely managed to slide under the covers when Azula opened the door.

"Rise and shine, _Sweetness_," the princess said. "It's time for you to earn your keep."

"What?" Katara asked.

"You're going back where you belong," Azula said. "The Oyster District."

* * *

**I apologize for how long this took! I had serious issues about how to get into that prison, and it really blocked me for a long time. I hope you enjoyed it!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: I've been very bad lately about not answering your reviews and PM's. I apologize. Real life got in the way, there, and I just want everyone to know that I am reading your reviews, comments, private messages, and I am noticing your drawings. And I appreciate them hugely – the keep me going, remind me of why I work so hard at this, and encourage me to do more. (Which is part of why this chapter arrived so soon!)**

**Thanks: Everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, after such a long wait. Thanks for keeping the faith!**

* * *

The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm. **– Charles Caleb Colton**

* * *

Katara had scarcely enough time to dress before the Dai Li entered the room and manacled her. They hauled her into the hallway. A moment later, Zuko emerged, twisting and snarling, from his own room. Upon seeing her, he slithered out of the agents' grasp and slid his hands under his feet so now they were in front of him. He ducked under the agents' hands and bolted for Katara. Bringing his arms over her head, he used his manacles as leverage to pull her closer.

Then he was kissing her.

He started at the hairline and trailed down past her temple to her cheeks and then travelled across her nose – everywhere but her lips, and a very faraway voice told her that it was decent of him to spare her that small dignity, to let that much be hers alone to give. "I've been so worried," he said, a little too loudly so Azula and the others could hear. "I've missed you so much."

"M…Me too," Katara said, but it was hard for her mouth to shape the words. "So much." She was rocking on her feet. It was hard for her to balance with her arms behind her back and him leaning into her, but then his hands found hers and their fingers enlaced around all the steel, and he was pulling her flush against him so as he breathed she felt it not just on her neck but across her chest.

He leaned their foreheads together. "Are you all right?"

She swallowed. "Yes, fine…" She blinked. "What about you?"

"Much better, now," Zuko said.

"Oh, spare me," Azula said. "Take them upstairs."

Then Zuko's whole body jerked away from her as the Dai Li wrenched his arms up and pulled him backward. His boots squeaked across the floor. "Hey! I was just kissing my girlfriend!"

"You'll have enough time for that later, Zu-Zu," Azula said. "Try to keep your mind on the plan, for now. It's the only reason you're alive."

* * *

Ty Lee stood waiting for them in what appeared to be Azula's room. It was as big as a small house in Katara's village – the bed was like a little room unto itself. Ty Lee had stuck her head through her legs somehow, and spoke from between them. "Oh, hi, Azula!" She unfolded her body and grinned. "Hi, Zuko. Hi, Katara." She blinked. "I got your message before, but Azula says you might be a bad influence."

"That's okay," Katara said.

"Where is Mai?" Azula asked. "I told her to be here."

"Relax," Mai said, emerging from what appeared to be the hair-brushing room. "I just had to go vomit."

"Seeing these two is enough to put anyone off their food, Mai, but try to keep your stomach in check," Azula said. She turned to Katara and Zuko. "Sit."

Their chains trailing behind them, they took positions on a very stiff, upright couch. Zuko promptly looped his linked hands over Katara and cuddled her. "What do you want?"

Mai snorted and turned away. Azula's eyes followed her before fixing again on Zuko and Katara. "Today is a very special day, Zuko. Today, you finally prove yourselves useful." Her eyes narrowed. "So I want you to go back to that wretched little hole you called a teahouse, and learn as much as you can about the Avatar and his plans."

"That's all?" Katara asked. "Don't you mean that you're going to trap him? Isn't that what this is really about?"

Beside her, Zuko stiffened. A kind of surprised mirth entered Azula's eyes. "Oh, you've learned so much about me in such a short time," she said. "Of course it's a trap. And you're going to help me spring it."

"Never," Katara said.

"No?" Azula asked. A ball of blue flame flared to life in her palm. "Not even when it means saving Zuko's life?" The flame grew higher. "I have no problem ridding this palace of him once and for all, you know. Father would thank me for scraping that particular bit of mud off his shoes." Azula raised her fiery hand. "Disobey me now, and it's all over for him." Azula juggled the fire between her hands. "Which is it, Katara? Choose. The Avatar, or Zuko."

The flame burned so brightly Katara could almost see white at its core. It twisted and bent and flowed in Azula's hands. _Is that the kind of fire that scarred Zuko? Is it going to happen again? _The princess drew one hand back to strike and Katara said: "Okay! Fine! I'll do it!"

The flames evaporated. "Isn't that nice, Zu-Zu?" Azula asked. "She loves you, after all."

Zuko let his breath go. "What do we have to do?"

A knock sounded at the door, and soon someone entered with tea and steamer trays on a cart. "Oh, that's easy," Azula said. "You serve tea, just like you said in your letter. You hold Fatso and who ever else chooses to visit enough ." She waited for the guard to salute before turning back to them. "And if you fail at either of those tasks, you die."

* * *

On the way to the palanquin, Katara was almost sick about three times. Each time she imagined Aang's face – Aang in chains, Aang being burned, Aang in a funeral shroud being stuffed inside a kiln – and thought about her task, her stomach churned. _He can outsmart Azula. He's done it before and he can do it again. He knows it's a trap – we told Piandao it had to be._ Somehow, repeating those thoughts didn't help. By the time they entered the palanquin she was actually glad of Zuko's arm around her and the steady drumbeat of his heart under her ear when he pulled her in close. Faking their relationship had its advantages – right now she needed to be cuddled and didn't care very much _who_ it came from, so long as the person in question wasn't trying to kill, imprison, or manipulate her. Sad, the way her standards had changed. She shut her eyes and wondered where her brother was.

"We're here," Zuko said into her hair, and her eyes slowly opened.

"Was I asleep?" Katara asked.

"Yes," Zuko said quietly. "Only for a little while."

"You know what they say about the guilty," Mai said, from outside the palanquin's heavy red curtains.

Katara blinked and sat up. "No, I don't," she said loudly. "But I bet you do."

"Stop baiting the bait, Mai," Azula said. "You two. Hold out your hands."

Frowning at each other, Katara and Zuko held them out. Azula produced a key from her sleeve and unlocked their manacles. "Now get out," she said.

"You're just…letting us go?"

"Of course not," Azula said. "This whole area is crawling with Dai Li and Yu Yan archers." She leaned forward. "If the Avatar won't come quietly, the Fire Nation is prepared to take him by force. One way or the other, he will be ours. And you can spare him a lot of hurt if you cooperate. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Katara said, looking down.

"Good. Now leave."

Zuko held open curtain, and Katara climbed out. He emerged from behind her. They stood in an alley behind the Blue Sparrowkeet. Behind them, the palanquin stalked away. "We're right back where we started," Katara said.

"I know." Zuko looked up and down the alley, then up at the roofs. Katara followed his gaze. That long stretch of empty road looked awfully tempting.

"We can't," she said.

"I know that, too." He sighed and made for the back gate. "Come on. I'll make us some tea."

* * *

Rari greeted them in the kitchen. "Hello, you two," he said in a creaking voice. "I'd offer you some tea, but…" He held up his fingers. Bandages and tiny bamboo splints held them upright. Clearly, someone had broken them all. Katara's eyes watered.

"It's all right," Zuko said. "I'll make some."

He busied himself with the tea. Katara moved to help him. He sparked a fire and she began measuring out something to calm their nerves. Silence pervaded the kitchen. She felt Rari's eyes on her back like two little coals. "I told them nothing," the old teamaster said, finally.

Zuko paused. He turned around and she followed. "Thank you."

Rari smiled wanly. "It was nothing," he said. "Your sister and her agents are very intimidating." He examined his mangled fingers. "But if I had betrayed you, no amount of distance or pleading could have saved me from your uncle's wrath."

Katara folded her hands. "I'm sure he would have understood…"

A shadow passed over Rari's face. "You do not know the General as I do, young lady." He looked out toward his teahouse. "One does not trifle with the Dragon of the West."

"You were part of his invasion force, weren't you?" Zuko asked. "That's how you know him. It's not just the White Lotus."

Rari nodded at the teapot. "It's boiling."

Zuko's gaze remained fixed on the other man, so Katara turned and began bending water free. It wasn't until she heard the groan of footfalls on the stairs that she realized that the older man had left. She sighed and stared into her tea. "I guess they were really hard on him." She blinked. "Like they were with you, I mean. They hurt you really bad."

Zuko snorted. "The worst they did was take my dagger." He took his teacup. "You fixed the rest."

She frowned. "Did you know Azula would ask me to heal you?"

He blew on his tea and shook his head. "No."

"So you just expected it all to turn out okay?"

"…No." He sipped his tea. "I just thought I could distract Azula for a while. They said they wouldn't hurt you."

"Zuko-"

"It's okay. I'd do it again." He downed the rest of his tea and grimaced. "Let's go upstairs. I want some sleep before that whistle blows."

Katara nodded. "Okay." Reluctantly, she followed him up the stairs and into their old apartment. Rari had left it open. Zuko took one look at the room, sighed, and began pulling his futon and blankets down to the floor.

"You could take the other room, you know," Katara said. "It's nicer."

"This is fine."

Katara winced. She wandered over to the window. "I wonder how the bathhouse-master's daughter and her new husband are doing." She leaned out the window a little. "Remember? We saw the procession-"

"I remember."

Katara turned. "Are you mad at me?"

Zuko paused his unfolding. "No."

"Then why are you being like this?"

"Like _what?_"

"All…flat." She made a blank face. "You're not saying anything."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not talkative enough for you."

"See, you're doing it again! You're acting like I did something wrong, and I don't know what it is! So just tell me so I can apologize, already!"

Zuko straightened. He shut his eyes. "It's not you."

"Then what is it?"

Zuko threw his hands in the air. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that in a few hours, Azula is going to trap Aang and throw him in a cage, and it'll be _my_ fault? Or maybe the fact that we know _nothing_ about this weapon, because I was too busy making sure that Li and Lo weren't going to kill you to go and start looking for clues earlier?"

Katara backed away. "So you do think it's my fault," she said. "I was the one who got sick. I held things up. It's my fault. That's what you think, isn't it?"

Panic skittered over his features. "No. That's not what I meant."

"Then what _did_ you mean?"

"I meant that it's _my_ fault," Zuko said, looking down. "I should have started looking early. But I didn't. I thought they were poisoning you. You just…wouldn't wake up, and I thought if I wasn't watching _every minute_, they might…" His fists clenched, then opened again. "I let the mission down. I let your people down. I let _our_ people down. And it's because-"

"Zuko."

His face lifted. "Yes?"

She took a step forward. "It's okay." She tried smiling. "It's not like I would have done any differently. I mean, if you were the one who got sick, and I thought they were trying to poison you, I wouldn't have just left you."

He blinked. "You wouldn't?"

"No! I mean, I know I say mean things, but I wouldn't just _abandon_ you with those creepy old ladies." She held a finger up. "And you were right! Because when I _did_ leave you with those creepy old ladies, they _did_ poison you. Or drug you. Or something. Either way, you were right to be suspicious."

He almost smiled. "I guess…"

Her head tilted and she hugged her arms. "I'm really scared, too, you know."

"About Aang?"

"Yeah. And about seeing my dad's face when I tell him we didn't find anything." She rubbed her arms. "He's going to be really, _really_ disappointed…"

"It's okay," Zuko said. "I'd rather have your father disappointed in me than mine." He licked his lips. "So, what do we do if this doesn't work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if Azula catches Aang. What do we do?"

Katara frowned. "We break him out, of course."

"Oh." He smiled for real this time. "Right."

Katara walked over to him and flicked him on the forehead. "Honestly, Sparky, sometimes I wonder where your mind is."

"It wanders off a lot," Zuko said. He looked down at her. "This whole area is full of elite earthbenders and specially-trained archers, plus Azula and Mai and Ty Lee. If we can't break Aang free, or Azula catches us betraying her, we're dead."

Katara found it in herself to force the fear back. "When have those odds ever stopped you?"

He smirked. "Never." He nodded out the window. "Sure you don't want to run?"

"What, and miss all this?"

" Oh. Yes. The torture. The tasks. The teabending. How could I possibly leave it behind?" He rolled his eyes.

Katara brushed imaginary dirt from his shoulders. "Where would we even go?"

"Looking for my mom."

"You think your mom likes waterbenders?"

"I think I can convince her." He gently took hold of her wrists. "After all, if we can sell your dad on firebenders-"

"_WHAT IS GOING ON, HERE?"_

Katara turned. She found Sokka standing in the doorway wearing his full beard, brandishing his sword. He shook it like a wagging finger in Zuko's direction. "What are you doing with my baby sister?!"

"You owe me fifty gold pieces," Toph said, appearing beside him. Katara almost didn't recognize her, at first – the earthbender had re-arranged her hair into a long, glossy ponytail secured with the relic crown that Zuko had given her. She grinned. "Sparky. Sweetness."

Then they were all moving. Zuko moved first, Katara thought, but her own feet were so fast she couldn't tell. They all crashed into each other – she into her brother, Toph into Zuko – and there was a flurry of talking: "Take that beard off!" "What are you _wearing?_" "What are you doing here?" "What, you thought you could keep me away?"

Katara pulled away from Sokka. "Seriously. Take the beard off."

"_Seriously,_ what are you wearing?"

"It's my uniform," Katara said. "For my job."

Sokka turned to Zuko. "You let her wear-oh."

Zuko sat on his knees, holding Toph to him. The earthbender had pinked significantly, but she let him keep gripping her until he slowly let her go and carefully adjusted her crown. "I like your hair," he said.

"Pops said it looked good," Toph said.

"Where is he?" Zuko asked. "Where's my uncle?"

Sokka winced. "He's, uh, with Aang."

Zuko's features darkened. "Training him."

"No…more like…holding him back." Sokka rubbed the back of his neck. "You see, Aang really wanted to come today, but your uncle, and well, everyone else, we all thought that maybe it wasn't such a good idea."

"It wasn't," Zuko said. "Azula thinks she's going to trap him and whoever comes with him." He frowned and pushed himself to his feet. "How did you get in here without the Dai Li or the Yu Yan seeing you?"

"Yeah, about that…" Toph shoved her hands in her pockets. "There might be a hole in the kitchen floor that wasn't there before."

Zuko tugged her ponytail. "Just like a badgermole."

"We don't have much time," Sokka said. "What have you learned? Do you have the plans? Do you know where the Mechanist is?"

Katara and Zuko looked at each other. "No," they said in unison.

"We haven't found him, yet," Zuko said. "We've looked almost everywhere. The only thing that we've found out is that all the non-benders are being taken outside the prison tower and put somewhere else."

"And that's probably where Longshot and Smellerbee are," Katara said. "Did you understand that part of the message?"

"Yes," Sokka said. "We figured it meant those two, but we weren't sure about the other part. How'd they wind up in prison?"

"The same way we did," Zuko said. "Jun found them."

"_Jun?_ The _bounty hunter?"_

"You two were in prison?" Toph asked. "For how long?"

"Hard to say," Katara said.

"Two days," Zuko said. When she frowned at him, he shrugged. "I could still feel the sun rising."

"Was it bad?" Sokka asked.

"It wasn't exactly a night at the opera," Zuko said. "But we managed." He looked at the floor. "Azula knows that Uncle Iroh is with you. That's why we addressed the letter to him. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay-"

"It was your sister or the information. I had to choose."

"Zuko, I get it-"

"They had her in a cage."

Sokka paled. He looked at Katara, then wordlessly threw his arms around her. "Is that true? Did they put you in a cage like Hama?"

Tears rose in her eyes. "Yes, but it's okay. Zuko protected me." She squeezed Sokka. "And a good thing, too, because no one else could patch him up after Azula decided to go all Ba Sing Se on him."

"She shot lightning at you?" Toph asked.

"It's all right," Zuko said. "Katara healed me."

Katara pulled away. "We've been busy."

Sokka snorted. "Yeah. We noticed." He looked between them. "You really didn't find _anything?_"

"Just this," Katara said, reaching inside her wrappings and retrieving the tiny urchin toy. "There was one in Ozai's desk and one inside a dead prisoner's pocket."

"You were in the Fire Lord's _office?_"

"You _touched a dead body?_"

"Don't ask," Zuko said. "Tell my uncle that there's something strange going on with the ashes in the vault, too-"

"You went to the _vault?_"

"Yes," Katara said. "Trust us, Sokka, it wasn't all that special. Well, aside from the jewelry. And the silks. And the swords with all the rubies-"

"There were _swords _with _rubies?_"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Yes, and if you'll shut up I'll give you one when this is all over."

"Everyone's getting presents," Katara said.

"Ooh, what do I get?" Toph asked.

"Nothing, if you don't get this message to my uncle," Zuko said. "Tell him there are ashes there in small urns. He'll understand. We don't keep our ashes there."

"Just ashes?" Sokka asked.

"Just ashes," Zuko said. "We looked."

Both Sokka and Toph went a little green. "Oh, Sparky, that's just _nasty_," Toph said. "I mean, I know I'm gross, but digging around inside some dead guy's-"

"Please be quiet," Zuko said. "Tell my uncle they seemed ordinary, but darker than normal. I don't know, maybe they were burned with some special kind of fire or something."

"That's all you've got?" Sokka asked. "Ashes and a weird toy and all the non-benders being moved?"

"And the Southern Fleet," Katara said. "The Southern Fleet is on its way to the South Pole. You have to tell them to evacuate." She swallowed. "I'm not sure we'll find the weapon in time to tell our people how to defend themselves."

Sokka shut his eyes and sighed. "Oh, no…" His eyes opened. "Are you sure that's all you have?"

"That's it," Zuko said.

Sokka looked pained. "You're not, like, holding out on us?"

"No," Katara said.

Toph sucked her teeth. "That's what we were afraid of."

"I know we've failed you," Zuko said. "We're trying-"

"That's not it," Sokka said heavily. "We knew there was a chance you wouldn't find what you were looking for. General Iroh made two plans – one for if you did find the weapon, and one for if you didn't. I just liked the first one a lot better."

"Why?" Zuko asked. "What's wrong with the second one?"

Sokka didn't answer for a moment. Instead, he placed his hands on Katara's shoulders. "Whatever happens next, I want you to know that I love you and I'm proud of you."

Katara stepped back. "What's going on?"

"We can't tell you," Toph said. "It won't work if you know."

"_What?"_ Zuko moved toward Sokka. "I can understand if you don't trust me, but not telling your sister-"

"I don't like it any more than you do, Zuko," Sokka said. "But your uncle is right. The only way this works is if you…react naturally." He held his hand out. "I'm grateful. Really. I was really uncertain about this at first, and I didn't like it, but now I think it's the right thing."

"What's the right thing?" Katara asked.

"I'm just thanking you for taking care of my sister," Sokka said.

Frowning, Zuko held his hand out. Sokka took his forearm and squeezed it. Zuko squeezed back. "I promised you I would," Zuko said. "You and your dad. I was just keeping my word."

"That what they call it?" Toph muttered.

"What who calls what?" Katara asked.

"We should be going," Toph said. "We've, uh, got some last minute details to straighten out." She crossed to Katara and hugged her. "Congratulations."

"Yeah," Sokka said, reaching over and awkwardly patting Zuko's shoulder. "Congratulations. I think. And, uh, good luck."

"Huh?"

"We'll see you soon," Toph said. "By the way, nice outfit, Katara."

Katara smoothed her pants down. "Do you think so? Because-" Realization struck. "Oh. Haha. Very funny, Toph."

"That's what I'm here for," Toph said. "Come on, Snoozles. We've got news to deliver."

"Don't remind me," Sokka said. He nodded at them. "Be good, you two."

"Yeah, no more little surprises, got it?" Toph asked.

"Uh…sure…"

Sokka gestured at his eyes with his first two fingers, then pointed them at Zuko. "Got my eyes on you, buddy."

"Right…"

The door slammed. Katara turned to Zuko. "What was that all about?"

"I think we may have dreamed it." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think I need sleep. Now."

"Yeah, good thinking," Katara said. "I'll just, um, be in my room."

"Right." Zuko sat down on the futon and began undoing his boots. "Have a good nap."

Katara lingered in the doorway. "Sokka's right," she said. "You did take really good care of me, and I'm grateful."

Zuko paused. "Don't thank me, yet," he said. "We still have the day to get through."

Katara summoned the ghost of a laugh. "Teashops, right?"

He nodded, smiling faintly. "Right." He lay down and rolled over on his side with his back to her. "I think my mom would have liked you."

"Mine, too," Katara said.

"Uncle Iroh likes you."

"Ewww…"

"Not that way. At least, I don't think so." He shuddered and wormed his way into the mattress. "You really think that about your mom?"

"Yeah," Katara said, leaning against the doorframe. "She liked people who could stand up and fight for what they believed in." She smiled. "It took you a while, but you got there."

"Did she look like you?"

"A little bit, I guess. It's hard to remember, sometimes. Sometimes when Dad looks at me, though, I know he sees her." Katara crossed her arms. "Mom was prettier, though."

Zuko muttered something. "What was that?" she asked.

"Goodnight," he said.

"Oh. Okay." Shrugging, Katara moved into her own room, and shut the door. But even after she lay down, sleep wouldn't come. Instead, she could only keep re-imagining what Sokka and Toph had said, and wondering what it could possibly mean.

* * *

She did not have long to wait, however. Once the afternoon whistle blew, Rari lit the red lantern and opened the teahouse for business. Things proceeded normally, and Katara could almost pretend that no time had passed and that nothing had changed – that it was all just a bad dream, her time in prison and under Azula's thumb – until she noticed the Dai Li agents in plainclothes positioned around the teahouse. Then Toph and Sokka strode in, and everything changed.

"Get Zuko," Sokka said. He still wore his beard, but his face looked heavy and his eyes were tight like they had been after losing Yue.

"That's all?" Katara asked. "Don't you want to sit down? Or hug your own sister?" She reached for him, and Sokka held his hands up.

"Don't," he said. "Just…don't."

Katara backed away. What had happened? Was this part of the plan? Had Sokka not forgiven her for failing to find the weapon? "Sokka…"

"Just bring him out here, Sweetness," Toph said. "Let's get this over with."

Bewildered, Katara moved into the kitchen. Zuko stood there watching the hourglasses. "Sokka's outside," she said. "He wants to talk to you."

Zuko nodded slowly, and poured tea into two cups. "It's starting, whatever it is."

"Looks like it." She hugged her arms. "Sokka looks really angry. And there are Dai Li everywhere."

Zuko handed her a cup of tea. "I'm sorry it's not something stronger, but…" He raised his cup to her. "It's been an honor."

"You too," Katara said. They drank.

Zuko set his cup down and looked out into the teahouse. "So. Let's do this." He turned to her. "Just…stay close to me, okay?"

"Don't worry," she said, trying her best to sound breezy and carefree. "I'll protect you."

Zuko smiled and ushered her out. The other customers stared at Sokka and Toph. Katara heard whispers about foreigners. She moved past quiet tables and watchful Dai Li. Zuko trailed behind. Finally they stood before Sokka and Toph. "Sokka," Zuko said. "It's, uh, good to see you."

The sword was in Sokka's hands before Katara truly saw him move. It wicked through the air and the customers shrieked and overturned their chairs on their way out. Only the Dai Li remained. The sword landed against Zuko's throat. "You've got a lot of nerve sending us a note after what you pulled," Sokka said.

Katara rushed forward, ducked under the sword, and pushed Sokka in the chest. "Sokka! Stop it!"

Her brother's eyes met hers. "Get out of my way, Katara."

"No! Stop this! I mean it!"

Sokka's mouth went hard. "You don't get to tell me what to do, anymore," he said. He nodded at Zuko. "You made your choice."

Katara backed away. "What…?"

"You heard me," Sokka said. "You're not a part of this family any more."

Something in her went very cold. "Sokka, how can you say that? How-"

"Put the sword down," Zuko said behind her.

Sokka gestured with the sword. Katara had to dart back to avoid the blade. "First you disgrace my sister and then you try to order me around? I don't think so."

_Disgrace? _"I haven't _disgraced_ Katara," Zuko said. "But if you don't quit pointing your sword at her _now_, I'll-"

"You'll what, Jerkbender? Burn me? Slice my hand off? What? How can you possibly top the list of troubles and disappointments you've heaped on us from day one?"

"Sokka, quit it-"

"Don't you dare defend him to me, Katara; we all know this guy is more important to you than Aang or the war or your own _family._ So just shut up and butt out."

"That's it," Zuko said. He pushed forward and shifted Katara behind him with one arm. "You can say what you want to me. But you don't get to talk that way to your sister. Ever."

Sokka's eyebrows rose. "Or what?"

"Or—Aang?" Zuko leaned to his right. Sokka took the bait and let his concentration slip. He turned his head a fraction, and Zuko drove his fist into Sokka's face. Sokka reeled back and into a table. "Get out," Zuko said. "All we wanted was news about the family. We didn't want any trouble."

Sokka wiped his lip with the back of his hand. "No trouble, huh?" He stood up. "Well, you should have thought of that before you betrayed us." He ran at Zuko, sword up, and Zuko grabbed Sokka's collar and threw him into more tables.

"Leave," he said. "Don't make me hurt you."

Katara looked at the Dai Li. Why weren't they trying to trap Sokka and Toph? Not that she wanted them taken away, but why were the agents holding back? Were they waiting for some kind of signal? Was Azula secretly watching this fight, somehow, waiting for the perfect moment?

A blaze of light plunged the dusky street into sudden but brief daylight. _"Zuko!"_

Katara's heart entered her throat. Sokka dropped his sword. "Oh, no."

Toph hung her head. "It's Aang."

Katara heard the arrows before she saw them. Then the wind roared up and she heard cries of pain and surprise, as though Aang had re-directed the Yu Yan's arrows right back at them. _"Zuko! Come out here and face me!"_

Sokka turned to Zuko. "You'd, uh, better do as he says."

Zuko looked to Katara. She nodded. They walked outside together. Aang stood with his glider at his back, glaring at them both. His body trembled. Katara had not seen that kind of rage in him since the desert. Something in him called to her – she wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. But he wasn't glowing. And his gaze did not soften when it fell on her. Instead he stood rooted to the spot, the sunset casting a red glow across his skin and throwing his shadow long and dark. "You," he said.

Sokka stepped out from behind them. "Aang, you're not supposed to be here-"

"Shut up, Sokka," Aang said. "Leave us alone."

"Aang-"

"You lied to me!" Aang levelled his staff at Zuko.

"No," Zuko said. "I've never lied to you."

"You said _nothing happened_ under Ba Sing Se," Aang said. Tears appeared in his eyes. "And this _whole time_…" He directed his stare at Katara. "Why didn't you just _tell _me? Why did you have to _lie?_"

The realization hit Katara in a wave. The hair on her neck prickled. _He doesn't know. He thinks it's real. We never told Piandao the relationship was a fake! He saw us together and he assumed that part was true! He must have told everyone!_ "Aang, you don't understand-"

"I understand enough!" He pointed to Zuko. "I'm challenging you. I want an Agni Kai. Right now."

Zuko flinched. "Aang, no," he said. "Please don't do this…I've been loyal…" He tried stepping forward, but a blast of wind knocked him against the wall. Zuko sat up as Katara moved forward to speak.

"Aang, stop it, this isn't going to solve anything-"

"Don't," Aang said. "I can't even…I can't even look at you right now."

Her jaw fell open. Her vision blurred. "Aang…"

"I loved you the most," he said, voice trembling. "You were _everything_ to me…" Aang swallowed thickly. "I would have given you everything you wanted, and done anything you said, because I _loved_ you, and this whole time you were just…"

"But I love you, too, Aang," Katara said. She took one hesitant step forward. "You don't need to hurt Zuko. You can-"

"Was it worth it?" Aang asked.

"What?"

"Just tell me. Was it worth it?" His face crinkled, turned ugly with disgust. "Are things really that much better with him? Is there something I didn't do? Something I couldn't give you?"

"Aang, stop," Zuko said. "It's not-"

"_Shut up!"_ Aang whirled his hands and Katara recognized the motion and suddenly there was light and heat and noise and she was blown against the wall. Her ears rang. She saw stars. Something warm dripped down her scalp. The force of the explosion was enough to knock her and Sokka back into the teahouse. Aang still hadn't mastered the lightning. But where he had stood, there was a scarred pit of blackened earth.

Sokka and Toph were crawling toward her. "Katara-"

"You still have a lot to learn, Aang," Zuko said, pushing himself to his feet. He spoke slowly, rasping, and he sounded the way he had when he challenged Katara at the Oasis: angry and lethal. "I think it's time for another lesson."

"I've gotten a lot stronger, Zuko," Aang said, taking a defensive posture.

"You lack control," Zuko said. He pointed. _"Look what you've done."_

Aang's eyes tracked his hand and Katara watched horror spread across his features when they landed on her body crumpled against the wall. He moved. "Katara, I-"

"You've done enough damage," Zuko said, grabbing Aang by robes and pushing him back.

Aang struggled. His eyes burned. "I love her more than you can possibly understand."

"Then why do you always make her cry?"

Aang growled and shot up into the air. Peering up, Katara saw him flip over at rooftop height, his leg trailing fire. Zuko blocked it easily and dodged away. Aang landed lightly on his feet. "Don't go easy on me," he said. "I'm not your student any longer."

Zuko raised his arms. "That's right. I thought you were supposed to be the Avatar."

They moved as one. It was like a horrible mimicry of the Dancing Dragon form. They pushed up from the dirt and their fists moved and Katara saw them summoning tides of flame from the air. Then she was moving, she was stumbling, and she was pulling from rainbarrels with a summer's worth of monsoon in them. And just as the two flames brushed each other, she sliced through them with a blade of water. Their fire snuffed out and she stood between them, panting but unscathed. The rage made her forget the pain, made her forget Azula and the trap and the danger and remember only the hot lump in her throat.

"_Stop it,"_ she said. "Both of you."

Aang snarled and pointed at Zuko. He started coasting forward. "He started it-"

Katara raised her hands and the water at her feet flew upward, became needles. They rained down in icy shards that imprisoned Aang the way Master Pakku had once imprisoned her. "Stop. Fighting. _Now._"

Aang blinked but made no effort to free himself. "Katara, just listen-"

"No. _You_ listen. I am not some _prize_ to be _won._ I _chose_ to come with Zuko, because it was _the right thing to do._" Her breath surged inside her. "It wasn't easy and it hasn't always been fun but at least _Zuko_ trusts me to make my _own_ decisions." She swallowed. It was suddenly much harder to see. "He respects me. He makes sure I have what I need. And he never runs away when things get tough."

Long, slow clapping sounded above Katara's head. She looked up and there was Azula silhouetted in the sunset's final glow, her foot braced on the roof of the teashop, with Mai and Ty Lee standing beside her. Azula continued applauding. "Excellent," she called. "I think I might actually be a little misty." She nodded at her friends. "Get them."

Ty Lee moved first. She jumped and landed on a clothesline, arms outstretched, while Mai slid down a drainpipe. The doors on the bathhouse blew open wide. Out ran Suki and Hakoda. "My, my," Azula said, zinging down a line of lanterns and landing on the ground. "Quite the little family reunion we've got, here. All that's missing is-"

Lightning shredded the air over their heads. A barrier of earth appeared before Azula and her friends before it could hit them. Dai Li poured out of the teahouse. Aang shattered free of his ice-prison, and Zuko pointed up the road. "Uncle…"

Iroh rode a komodo rhino that barrelled down the street. He clutched the reins in one hand and a ball of lightning in the other. _"AZULA!"_

"Finally," Azula muttered. She ran forward, straight for the rhino. Blue fire flared in her hands. Suddenly something jutted up from the ground, and Azula fell clumsily to her knees.

"Have a nice trip?" Toph asked, dusting off her palms.

Gritting her teeth, Azula directed her voice up to the rooftops. "Shoot to kill!"

The Yu Yan arrows never reached Toph, though. Something glittered through the air and sliced them in half. And then it landed in Hakoda's hand: a boomerang. Katara ran for him. "Dad!" Her father stepped away. She faltered. "Dad?"

Hakoda's lips twitched. "Only one girl calls me Dad, now," he said. "And her name is Suki."

The world capsized for a moment. "…Dad?"

"You made your choice, Katara. You chose Zuko." Hakoda grimaced. "You chose this den of whores over your own tribe."

_Whores?_ Her skin went cold. "Dad, you think that I…?"

"You chose the man who brought you here, to this place, where people sell their love for money," Hakoda said. "You think I can just let you walk back into the tribe, now? You're the daughter of a chief!" His eyes narrowed. "Your mother would be ashamed."

Katara fell to her knees. "Dad, please…"

Then Zuko's arms were sliding up under hers and he was pulling her under an eave. Katara looked up and saw Aang in the air, bending arrows away from the crowd, Iroh trading blows with Azula, Toph pushing back the Dai Li with man-sized pillars of stone, and Sokka and Suki fending off Mai's attacks with sword and fan. Ty Lee arced down through the air behind them and aimed her paralyzing fingers at their shoulders. But then a fist appeared out of the earth to grip the acrobat's foot, and Katara heard Toph's voice: "Hey, Stretch. Let's play."

Ty Lee smiled. "You're on."

"Hey," Zuko said. His fingers were on Katara's chin and he turned her to face him. He was sweating. "Hey. Look at me."

Katara blinked tears away. They rolled down her face. "My dad…"

"I know. We have to get out of here."

Nodding mutely, Katara took his hand and they started running. Earth-gloves found their wrists and ankles, though, and knocked them to the ground. "And where do you think you're going?" a Dai Li agent asked, smirking at his partner.

Then the two men's eyes rolled up inside their skulls and they slid down, unconscious. Hakoda stood behind them, club raised. "Sorry, gentlemen," he said, "but this young man's fight is with me." He pointed the club at Zuko. "Get up."

Zuko easily broke through the now-slackened earth-gloves. He rolled up to his feet. "You don't understand," he said. "This whole thing-"

"Do you love her?" Hakoda stared at Zuko. "Well? Do you?"

Zuko shut his eyes. There was a silence before he spoke, his voice hissing like pain or something held back too long: "Yes." He opened his eyes and glanced at Katara. "I love her more every day."

"Did you plan this?" Hakoda asked. "Did you think you could just take a Water Tribe girl and make her into a Fire Princess? You can't overthrow years of war and tradition for your own selfishness."

Something in Zuko's face changed. "Watch me." He bent down and took Katara's hand and pulled her up beside him. "Come on."

They ran hand in hand under volleys of arrows and flying manacles, until a wall of earth rose around them. Katara looked up. Azula and Mai and the Dai Li stared back. She heard Sokka and Suki and her father running up to face Zuko. Now the two of them stood back to back, each facing the other's family, in the fading red rays of a Fire Nation sunset on a ruined Oyster District street. Katara was glad of his posture; it held her upright when she wanted to crumble.

"Still with me?" Katara asked.

"You have to ask?"

She swallowed. Twin blue flames blazed to life in Azula's hands. Then Katara noticed the sign above Azula's head, and smiled. Hard to believe that she'd ever been nervous about bending water she couldn't see. She twitched her fingers and a sulphurous tide of hot water exploded from the bathhouse, drowning Azula and Mai and the Dai Li and curling protectively around Katara and Zuko. She leaned across and the water rose up and over the earthen wall like a great tongue of ice and she was running, and Zuko was behind her, and the ice slide appeared beneath their feet as they dashed over the wall and toward freedom.

They landed rolling. Behind them, a greengrocer shook his fist as the water melted and scattered his goods to the street below: _"My cabbages!"_

But they just kept running. "Where to?" Katara asked.

"Anywhere but here," Zuko said.

"How about going down?" a voice asked behind them, and two sharp jabs in Katara's back told her that Ty Lee had won her fight with Toph. Her body slid down beside Zuko's. They lay face-down in the dirt. "Hey Azula!" Ty Lee called. "Look what I got!"

Something shuddered in the earth behind them. The wall, most likely. Azula emerged from the shadows with her boots still steaming. "Good work, Ty Lee," she said. "Where's the blind one?"

"Running scared like the others," Ty Lee said. She paused. " She went underground. Um…where is the Avatar?"

"Not in my custody," Azula said, and kicked Zuko savagely. "Honestly, Zu-Zu, why couldn't you have just let the Avatar kill you like I had hoped? It would have made things so much easier. Two birds with one stone, and all that."

_So that was her plan. That's why the Dai Li didn't interfere, earlier – they wanted Sokka or Aang to hurt Zuko. _"At least we know they weren't lying," Ty Lee said. "I mean, I didn't see everything, but the Avatar looked mad."

"My father disowned me," Katara said.

"I will obtain a full report from the Dai Li in short order," Azula said. She raised her voice. "Put these prisoners on a palanquin!"

* * *

The ride to the palace was long and dark. Katara tried to piece together the parts of the battle in her mind: Sokka had said he loved her, and he was proud of her, and then he had utterly changed his tune. Toph and Suki and her dad had come along. Aang had surprised them, and it seemed as though Iroh had followed him to the Oyster District. It was clear that no one knew that her relationship with Zuko was fake – they all acted as though something really _had_ happened under Ba Sing Se, or as if she and Zuko had been sneaking around at the Western Air Temple. Hadn't Azula said something about them hiding their relationship from Aang, when Piandao showed up? Had they contradicted her? No. And hadn't Katara looked the old swordmaster in the face and told her that she wanted _everyone_ to know the "truth" about her relationship with Zuko?

She groaned and tried to force out the image of Aang's hurt face, and to deafen herself to her father's words. But it didn't work. Tears rolled down steadily, and to her horror she found herself snivelling in front of Azula. "Oh, stop crying," Azula said, sparking up a fire in her hand. "When our father banished Zuko, he did more than just _yell._ He gave him that eye as a parting gift."

Katara twisted around to look at Zuko. In profile, all she could see was the scar. It looked heavy and painful and old. Katara remembered the feel of it under her hands – rough, barely-human. _This is why he didn't want to come here. He knew exactly what Ozai could do. He wanted to protect us._ Fresh tears filled her eyes.

"It's all right," Zuko said. He looped an arm around her and pulled her head to his chest. "It's going to be all right."

But now she wasn't crying for Aang or her dad or Sokka or the mission. It was something different now, and it felt a lot like the spinning the calendar in Wan Shi Tong's library and learning how the world moved, and comprehending how small she truly was within it. Through a film of moisture she saw Azula staring at her with eyes as golden and predatory as a vulture-wasp's. Then the fire vanished and they were in the dark again, rocking slowly as the palanquin trudged up the hill toward their royal cage.

* * *

At the palace, Zuko murmured something to Azula and her eyebrows lifted. "This should be interesting." And then Zuko was being marched away in manacles.

Katara struggled. "Zuko!"

"Just do as they say," Zuko said over his shoulder, and continued walking.

After that, she sat inside her room, in the dark, with her knees drawn to her chest. None of her thoughts seemed to want sit still long enough for her to examine them. All she saw was her father's face, and Aang's, and Sokka's: the disappointment and hurt and revulsion. Had Sokka and Toph visited her just to make their own feelings known before her dad said his piece? But that made no sense – her dad _knew _about the mission. He had helped plan it. And even if he didn't know that the relationship wasn't real, would he really cast her out of the tribe for choosing someone from the Fire Nation? Hadn't the first Stormbenders been from two different nations? And wasn't Gran-Gran a kind of exile in her own right? She had fled the North because she couldn't agree with their customs, but she had still found her place in the Southern community.

_Maybe it was hard for Gran-Gran. Maybe it was more difficult than she ever let on._ _She had to say good-bye to her whole tribe, and make the journey by herself._ Katara was used to thinking of Gran-Gran as tough but fair, practical but compassionate, sort of like her dad or even Master Pakku on a very good day. It was hard to imagine her being scared or lost. But once upon a time, she must have been. And now, if her dad had meant what he said, Katara would never see her again.

Katara squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think of the sunrise on glaciers, of ice bathed in peachy gold and violet, of the rare and precious sight of polar tigers frolicking under their mother's constant gaze. She had seen the whole world. She had lived in the First Tier of Ba Sing Se and she had watched erupting volanoes and falling stars and battled serpents that dwarfed Fire Navy vessels. She had met pirates and spirits and princesses, both good and evil. But now all she could think of was the simple beauty of a lone lichen struggling up through ice in the first week of what passed for springtime at her home, pushing with all its tiny might, tender and green and fragile. And she thought of that being lost to her forever and wept.

_This must be how Zuko felt_, something reminded her. She remembered how big his boat had seemed, at first, until she saw real Navy ships later and understood that his was just a tiny little thing out there on the sea. It was a practice ship, no better than the rafts that Water Tribe boys fashioned before they crewed their first fishing expedition. He had lived there for three years. And he had been nursing two wounds all that time – the one on his face to match the pain of exile. And when he had tried to warn her – over and over again, when he had begged her not to take this mission and had even challenged her and tried his hardest to stop her – she hadn't listened.

And now, he was probably being questioned by the Dai Li. He was probably in a torture cell in the prison tower, maybe even in a cage. And right now Azula was probably shooting lightning at him just because. Because she was vindictive and vicious and hateful and because Katara had thought she could outsmart the whole royal family. She had thought she could cover for them both with cleverness and a single lie she had convinced herself was harmless. Only it wasn't – it had hurt everyone involved. It had only made things worse.

Hours passed. She tried to sleep but it wouldn't come. Opening her eyes in the darkness was the same as shutting them. She listened for Zuko but he didn't come, either. _Ozai and Azula are probably deciding what to do with us,_ she reasoned. _Maybe they're using Zuko for target practice._ Her stomach churned and she sent her wishes toward her mother and Yue: _Please let him be all right. Please. This is all my fault – let me be the one who gets punished, not him. _

Finally she heard murmuring at her door and it creaked open, and someone pushed a stumbling shape inside. Zuko. The door slammed shut and Zuko directed fire at a sconce in one of the room's far corners. He looked only a little bit worse for wear: tired, but not visibly hurt. He stood there breathing hard and looking sorry for something she didn't understand. He licked his lips and opened his arms a little and then she was moving – she didn't remember starting to move – and crushing him. Her arms came up around his neck and his circled her waist.

"You're okay," she said into his neck.

"Yes." They stood like that for a moment, just breathing. Then his hand was tentatively feeling around her hair: "How's your head?"

She stepped back. "Oh, you know. It's just a cut."

"I'll ask for some water. You can heal it."

"I'll heal it later. Where have you been?"

Zuko sighed. "Here and there." He nodded at the bed. "Maybe you should sit down."

Frowning, Katara sat. Zuko shifted weight. "So," he said. "I've been thinking."

"I don't like the sound of this."

He nodded, grimacing. "No. You probably won't. But it's the best I could come up with."

She found herself picking threads in the bedspread. "Okay. Is this some sort of new plan?"

"Yes." He took a deep breath. "I think that what happened today… I mean, your dad… I think it was part of my uncle's second plan."

Her head tilted. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yes. I think they were trying to help us. I think they had to cut ties with us. To prove to Azula that we haven't been lying this whole time."

Katara sat back. This did put a whole new spin on things. It made a kind of demented sense: if Azula saw Sokka and Hakoda "banishing" them, she would know they had spoken the truth about leaving the group. It would also prove that they knew nothing about the Avatar's plans, and that they couldn't provide any information even under torture. And her lie about Zuko – the one they didn't actually know was a lie – would have provided them the opportunity they needed.

"It's just a guess," Zuko said. "But think about it. Your brother thanked me, and then he tried to kill me. Only he wasn't really trying – if he had wanted to hurt me, he could have. He was clumsy – even more clumsy than usual."

Katara almost laughed. "Yeah…" She swallowed. "But Aang must have surprised them in the middle of their performance."

"Right." Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "Aang."

Katara bit her lip. "You didn't hurt him. You could have, and you didn't."

Zuko's eyes lifted. "I wanted to. And that's enough." He looked at the floor. "Your brother, too. Suddenly he was waving that sword around and it was like I was this different person. I just wanted to grab him and…" He sighed shakily. "I've been trying really hard to change. I want to be good. But when he… And when Aang…" He looked up at her again. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

He looked so oddly desperate and hopeful that she couldn't help but smile. "Yes. I'm fine. Really." She sat forward. "You still haven't told me where you've been. I was really worried. I thought they were hurting you."

One corner of his mouth lifted. "No. Not that they didn't want to. But I managed to give them a better idea."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think." Zuko took a slow step forward. "Um, your dad…no. Forget that. I mean…" He swallowed. "Close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Just do it. Please."

Rolling her eyes, Katara shut them and covered them with her hands. "Happy?"

She heard rustling paper. "Okay. Open them."

When her hands uncovered her eyes, she saw a blue stone swinging gently in front of her face. The sky opal necklace from the palace vault dangled from Zuko's fingers by its chain of pearls. Katara took hold of it. "What…?"

"It's the best I could come up with," he said. "Turn it over."

She did. The back of the pendant, which was once smooth gold, was now engraved: a dark spot with tongues of flame licking out from the center. "It's an eclipse," he said. "It took some time – the palace goldsmith is losing his eyesight, and it doesn't really look right, but it's all I could think of, and if you don't like it you can always-"

"You carved me a necklace." Katara ran one finger over the engraving. "You _carved me a necklace._" She gulped. "Do you, um, do you know… Do you understand what this-"

"Yes. I do." He knelt. "I know this isn't what you planned. I know you probably wanted something different. And you probably wanted someone…else. Someone better. But right now Azula thinks that I have stolen the Avatar's prize. She thinks that you chose me over your family. And she thinks you'll say yes to this."

"Zuko…"

"You can divorce me, when it's over. Or I could die. And then you'd be entitled to everything I own." He brought a few scrolls from behind his back. "It's all right here. All you have to do is sign. And then you'll get everything. I had them drawn up today. All my money, all my land. Whatever I have. It's yours." He swallowed. "It's not much, but I get everything when Iroh dies, and that would be yours, too-"

"Stop." She looked at the necklace. "What's divorce?"

"It's when two people split up. Then the one whose fault it is has to pay the other until they get married again. You could say I did something bad. And I'd give you half of everything. Plus the, um, gifts."

"Gifts?"

"I'm still a failure in Ozai's eyes. But I've managed to take something from the Avatar. Azula wants a big, public demonstration. And that means all of Ozai's ministers, in one place." He stared at her. "It means all of them gathered together. The whole government. Vulnerable. Unsuspecting. Right where we want them."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that even if Aang manages to destroy Ozai, he'll still have the whole Fire Nation to contend with. Unless he can get rid of everyone who's loyal to the Fire Lord, in one strike, before they scatter." He eyed the necklace. "Azula thinks I'm helping her design another trap for the Avatar. But this might be the chance Aang needs. And when my uncle hears about it, he'll know what to do."

Katara ran the pearls carefully through her fingers. "You want me to marry you so you and your uncle can take over the government?"

"Azula needs a reason to keep us alive," Zuko said. "I know it sounds crazy-"

"I'm _fourteen._"

"I know that. But Azula doesn't." He sighed. "I told her that Water Tribe girls marry young. You said the betrothal age-"

"You're supposed to ask my dad. You're supposed to-"

"_Katara."_ Zuko plucked at the scrolls. "It's the only thing I could think of." He snorted. "It was your father's idea, anyway. He's the one who challenged me."

"But if you think he was pretending, then it wasn't really a challenge," Katara said. She re-examined the engraved eclipse. "We would have a lot to plan," she said. "We would have to stay here planning the, um, wedding."

"Right."

"That means more time to find the weapon. And the Mechanist, and Longshot and Smellerbee."

Zuko smiled. "Yes."

She played with the pendant. "You know, if this were a real relationship, I'd have every reason to be really mad at you."

"…You would?"

"Yes. This is a big step, and you didn't talk it over with me. At all."

Zuko's good ear pinked slightly. "I thought… I thought you might say no."

"Well, I haven't said yes, yet, either. I could still say no, and then you'd look really stupid."

He winced. "I know."

"I mean, it's not really fair of you to just have this big idea and not share it with me, and then just expect me to agree." She crossed her arms. "It doesn't sound like a very good marriage, to me."

He blinked. "I suppose not…"

"We're supposed to be partners. We're supposed to make decisions together and try to help each other."

Zuko nodded slowly. "I'll do better, next time." He looked at her out of the corner of one eye. "If there is a next time."

"Did you think I couldn't handle it?" Katara asked. "Did you think I couldn't help?"

He shook his head. "No! Not at all! I just thought…I thought you had been through enough, today." He looked up into her face. "I mean, maybe you wanted to be alone. Maybe you didn't want to see me. Because of what happened. What your dad said."

"And asking me to marry you would help that how, exactly?"

He stood up and made for the door. "I don't know! It was a stupid idea! I'm sorry! Forget I even brought it up!"

"Zuko-"

"No. You're right. It's stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. It's crazy. It'll never work. I should have-"

"_Zuko."_

He spun. "What?"

Katara held the necklace out. "I need help putting this on."

The frustration on his face melted away into hope. "…You do?"

She nodded. "Um, yeah. I think so. Yes." She smiled. He was right – this was completely insane and would _never_ work. It was as bad as one of Sokka's plans, really. And for some reason, that gave her something to feel hopeful about. Her voice came out small and tight. _"Yes."_

Zuko moved closer. "Are you sure?"

Katara blinked tears back. "As sure as I'm going to be."

He took the necklace from her. "Then why are you crying?"

"It's, um… It's been a really long day."

He laughed a little down in his throat – a benevolent shadow of his father's laugh. "You can say that again." He made a circle with one finger. "Turn around." She turned. "Um, your hair…"

"Oh, here." Katara gathered it in both hands and held it up. Zuko moved up behind her and she saw the engraved eclipse fall before her eyes before the pendant settled, opal-side up, under the notch of her collarbone. His breath puffed on her neck and she shivered. Then something slipped and she felt the familiar weight of her mother's necklace lifting away.

"There." His fingers pressed lightly on her shoulders. "Let me see."

Katara turned. Zuko's eyes found the necklace immediately. Then they lifted, found hers. "Perfect," he said.

Something in his eyes made her feel very shy, suddenly. She looked at the floor. "It's really pretty," she said. "I mean, it's the nicest thing anyone's ever given me." She toyed with it. "What if I break it?"

"You won't."

"I don't have anything to give you…"

"Not true." He dangled her mother's necklace from one hand and began looping the suede around his left wrist. He tugged the fabric so that the pendant lay like a charm across the top of his wrist, then slid it between two lengths of suede to tuck it in place. "I write with my other hand," he said, by way of explanation. "I don't want to get ink on this."

"You plan on doing a lot of writing in the future?"

"Well, I'll have to sign my name about a thousand times just to marry you," he said. His good eye widened. "That sounds really weird."

"You're telling me." She rocked on her toes. "So. Gifts."

"Yes. Lots of them. I promise."

"Do I get to make a wish list?"

"No. Mostly we'll just get money."

"Money?"

"For a country house. And everything to go inside it." He smiled. "You could, um, start drawing up plans. It would be more in character."

Something rattled in the shadows, and the secret panel rolled up toward the ceiling. Ty Lee stepped through. "Careful, you two," she said, wagging a finger. "Keep talking like that, and anyone listening could figure out your little game."

Fire blazed in Zuko's hand. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

Ty Lee held her hands up. "Hey! Stop! I'm on your side!"

"What?" Katara stepped forward. "Ty Lee, if you're lying-"

"I'm not really Ty Lee," she said, grinning. "But it's really sweet of you to think so."

Katara and Zuko glanced at each other, then at her. She wore Ty Lee's clothes, and Ty Lee's braid. She had Ty Lee's smile. "What?"

The girl's eyes twinkled. "Have you ever heard of the Ember Island Players?"

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Paramount, VIACOM, Nickelodeon, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: Wow. Everyone made the last chapter very special for me. 160+ reviews – that's saying something.**

**Thanks: To MouseThatRoared, LovelyEyes15, Manonlechat, Turtleyurtle1 and Rashaka and Meeoko for their art!**

**Spoilers: This chapter has spoilers for the **_**premise**_** of "The Ember Island Players." None of the content – the jokes, any plot development – has been spoiled here.**

* * *

The full value of this life can only be got by fighting; the violent take it by storm. And if we have accepted everything we have missed something -- war. This life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce. **- Gilbert K. Chesterton**

* * *

"The Ember Island Players?" Katara asked. "Where's Ember Island?"

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's over. We're dead."

The girl who looked very much like Ty Lee did an elaborate bow that involved waving one hand as she bent. "My name is Wai Lee. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Zuko's hand fell from his face. "_Wai_ Lee? You're one of Ty Lee's sisters?"

Wai Lee nodded. "That's me."

"I thought you said you were from Ember Island," Katara said. "Wherever that is."

"Well, not originally," Wai Lee said. "I'm sort of an actress."

Zuko's good eye widened. _"Sort of?"_

Katara stepped forward. "So you're pretending to be Ty Lee? Where's the real one?"

"Probably with Toph and General Iroh," Wai Lee said. "Toph lured Ty Lee away during the battle. Then, when no one was looking, she pulled the old bait-and-switch!"

"Like in the cup game," Katara said, remembering Toph's old Runaway scams. That seemed so long ago. Now Toph had perfected her skill – instead of a pebble, she could move a whole person. "So she pulled the real Ty Lee underground?"

"Well, I had to do my costume change somewhere," Wai Lee said. "General Iroh says that Toph will be good at getting information about Azula's plans from Ty Lee – apparently she can tell when someone's lying?"

"Yes," Katara said. "She can."

"Oh, good. I worried that she was bragging. Anyway, General Iroh says it'll be way easier for me to sneak out and share information with Master Piandao than you guys, so I'm just supposed to stay here and pretend to be Ty Lee until something changes!"

Zuko pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and groaned. "And I thought _my_ plan was crazy…"

"Why, what was your plan?" Wai Lee asked.

"Well, it's kind of already in motion," Katara said. She looked quickly at Zuko, and fingered her new sky opal necklace. "We're sort of getting married."

Wai Lee's eyes popped. Her groomed eyebrows flew up near her hairline. Then Katara had a double-armful of warm actress. "Congratulations!" Wai Lee said. "That's great news! You must be so happy!"

"Be…happier…if I could…breathe…"

"Oh, right, sorry," Wai Lee said, pulling away. She beamed at Katara and clasped her hands. "This is so exciting!"

"…Are you still in character?" Zuko asked.

"Um, maybe a little bit," Wai Lee said, faltering. "I mean, if I have to fool Azula and Mai, I might as well keep the act going…"

Katara's stomach flipped over. Wai Lee was right. She would have to convince Mai and Azula – Ty Lee's _best friends_ – of her identity. And that probably meant that Zuko was right – they were doomed. She shared a glance with him. He looked distinctly displeased. "How long have you been an actress?" Katara asked.

"Oh, not long," Wai Lee said. She held her hands up. "But don't worry! I might be just starting my acting career, but I've _always_ been Ty Lee's sister. And who better to play her than someone who's watched her for her whole life?"

Katara folded her arms and looked at Zuko. "She has a point, there."

Zuko scowled. "Say something about auras."

"Yours is very dark red and angry," Wai Lee said. She turned to Katara. "And yours is…hmm, I don't know, it's all mixed up…it's all different colors, like a bruise!"

"A bruise," Katara said. "Great."

"Bend over," Zuko said.

"_Zuko!"_

"Ty Lee was a circus performer! She can turn herself inside out and backwards! If her sister can't do that-"

"You mean like this?" Wai Lee asked, folding over to stand on her hands and creating a scorpion's tail with her legs. She shook a little, and lacked the grace and composure Ty Lee brought to her movements, but with practice, she might improve. Katara could only see one detail missing.

"What about the chi blocking?" Katara asked.

"Today was my first time doing it," Wai Lee said. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I? I had to make it look like I was helping Azula. I couldn't just let you get away."

"That's okay," Katara said. "We still have things to do, here."

"Well, of _course_, there's so much to plan and you have to get a-"

"She meant the weapon," Zuko said.

"Oh. Right." Wai Lee rolled her eyes. "Gosh, I'm so absent-minded sometimes…"

Zuko winced. Before he could once again mention their immediate demise, Katara said: "You should be really careful, Wai Lee. Just because Azula is supposed to be your sister's friend doesn't mean she'll be nice to you. She might ask you to do something really dangerous, like jump inside a drill full of slurry!"

"Or walk a tightrope over a flaming net," Zuko said.

Now it was Wai Lee's turn to look a little dismayed. "I thought the guys at the circus were only _joking…._"

"Trust me," Zuko said. "They weren't."

Someone banged on the door. "Aren't you done, yet?" a guard shouted through it.

"Almost!" Zuko shouted back. He pointed at the sliding panel and spoke tersely to Wai Lee. "Come back later. And try to suck up to my sister!"

"And ask awkward questions!" Katara added.

"No problem," Wai Lee said, bowing again. "And I'll try to get word to Master Piandao about your wedding!" And with that, she ducked out of the room.

Then it was just Katara and Zuko, alone. "So," Katara said. "That was unexpected."

"No kidding."

The guard pounded again on the door. "Enough! If she hasn't said yes, she's never going to!"

Zuko yelled at the door. "She already did!" He rolled his eyes. "Jerk."

Katara frowned. "They knew what you were going to ask me?"

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "I may have mentioned it…" He swallowed. "You know, so we could get extra time?"

She nodded. "Good thinking."

The door squealed open. "Congratulations," one of the guards said wryly. He was the same one who had teased Zuko before. He aimed a squinty smile at Katara. "Always good to have another Fire Princess on the premises."

_Fire Princess._ There was a strange thought. Katara tried to imagine herself wearing Azula's clothes – would she have to file her nails into points? Was Zuko now a prince, again? Had he ever really stopped being one? He seemed like he would always be a prince, no matter what Ozai or Azula did. It was in his walk and his words and his bending. It used to be a very nasty case of smug arrogance, but now that royal quality had cooled, like steeping tea, into confidence. _And now you're connected to it._

"Why, thank you," Katara said, smiling. She put her hands to her hips. "Shouldn't you be saluting?"

The guard blinked. Clearly, he had expected his leer would be enough to intimidate her – the man obviously had no idea what prison was really like. Then Zuko had his arm around her shoulders. "Isn't she great?" Zuko asked. "She's the perfect addition to our family."

Katara lifted a single finger and addressed the guard in much the same way she might Aang or Toph, if she caught them slacking. "I'll forgive your impertinence just this one time, if you find me something to eat. I would like fried fish, and coconut rice, and a mango, and-"

"Sweetness, let's not strain the poor man's brain," Zuko said. "It's been a long day for everyone." He leaned in and before his lips brushed the curve of her ear he murmured: _"I've created a monster."_

Katara gave him her brightest smile. "You have no idea."

"I love you," Zuko said, and kissed the tip of her nose. When he pulled away, he was smiling, and her cheeks almost thrummed with blood. _Why does he always have to do this in front of other people?_ Zuko tapped her nose with one finger. "Get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

"R…Right."

Zuko turned to the guard. "I can be taken back to my room, now."

Katara watched him leave. The guard left the single sconce in her room burning. Slowly, Katara raised her hands to her face. Her cheeks were hot under her palms. Somehow, sitting down seemed like a good idea. But when her knees bent, she found she'd misjudged the location of the bed. She landed hard on the floor and didn't move from that spot for a long time.

* * *

Sleep eluded her completely. A while after Zuko left, someone came by and delivered a bowl of tiny scallops in red curry over rice, and she ate it without truly tasting it. Three bites into the dish, she pushed it away. Rationally, she knew that food and sleep would help her mind quit racing if she would just relax and let them do their magic. And she tried – she blew out the sconce, climbed into bed, and shut her eyes. But around the time she heard the first dawn birds she realized that sleep just wasn't coming. Her head was too full. And at the moment, it was mostly full of Zuko.

Telling someone you loved them was going over the line, she decided. Actually, the whole marriage was over the line, but it was necessary – they needed an excuse to stay in the palace and learn about the weapon, and this was the nicest one Zuko could think of. It was better than prison, anyway. And he said she could break it off, after. That in itself was a little piece of Fire Nation culture that she actually liked. In the Water Tribe, you didn't dissolve a marriage unless someone cheated or hurt someone else. Her father had presided over one such occasion when she was very little – it involved a closed tent and a lot of crying and shouting, and when the husband emerged from the tent it became clear that his wife's brothers had given him a beating. But lately the war had been splitting everyone up long before their own mistakes could do the job.

But saying "I love you" was something you weren't supposed to lie about, even if the whole relationship was a lie. It was one of those things you couldn't take back. It was like speaking ill of the dead, or like when Zhao had reached into the Spirit Oasis. There were some things you just didn't do. This was one of them. It was bad enough that he had said the same to her father – now her dad either thought Zuko was head-over-heels for her, or he thought Zuko said things like that for the sake of a lie. Either way, Katara suspected that it would all end with her getting yelled at (and for something that wasn't even her fault). Besides, there were lots of other things Zuko could have said that would have gotten his point across to the people watching them. _You light up my life_, maybe, or _my heart burns for you!_

Katara giggled. Why couldn't Zuko just act completely silly and stupid about her, like Sokka was with Yue and Suki? It would be a lot funnier and less nerve-wracking. She momentarily pictured him trying to chat her up at a formal dinner and couldn't help grinning. Maybe she could get him to try wearing a Water Tribe woman's clothes, like Suki had done with Sokka. That would serve him right, and his hair might be just long enough for loops… She laughed out loud.

Above her head, something thumped. "What are you laughing about?" Zuko said through the wall.

Katara instantly stifled her giggles. "Um, nothing. Go back to sleep."

"…I can't."

"You can't sleep either?"

"No." A pause. "Is your head all right?"

She touched the back of it. "Yeah…I never healed it, though. Could I please use your bathroom?"

"Sure."

She quickly slid her clothes on and headed for the secret door. Zuko had already opened his, and she saw one sconce glowing when she stepped through the little observation room on the way to his. She shut her panel and entered his room. His sheets were all rumpled, like he'd been kicking them off the bed, and when he saw her looking he went to go pull them back up.

"No, it's okay, you don't have to clean up for me," she said, and headed for the bathroom. "I'll just be a minute."

Healing the cut on the back of her head took no time at all. The rest she spent giving herself a little bending bath: her hair needed washing in the worst way, and her skin wasn't much better off. When she emerged, she was clean and grateful for it, and better prepared to have the conversation that had been twisting her brain up in knots all night.

"So," she said, finding Zuko sitting on a hastily-made bed. "We're getting married."

He nodded. "Yes." His eyes found her new necklace. "You wore that to sleep?"

Katara looked down. "Well, yeah, I don't want to lose it…" She nodded at his left wrist. "You're still wearing yours, too."

"Well, yes, but I always did," Zuko said. He cleared his throat. "I mean, I always kept it close to me. In a pocket. Under my armor."

"Oh." Katara nodded, then bit her lip. "Um, can I sit down?"

Zuko inched over to one site. "Go ahead."

Katara marched over and sat herself down. She stared at her hands. They clutched the hem of her pants. "You told my dad you loved me," she said.

Zuko winced. "Yes…"

"And you said the same to me, too. And then you…well, you were there. You remember."

"Yes."

"And I know you only did it because of this whole scheme we've got going, but, um, it makes things really awkward, because I don't know what to say, and because you've done this before and I haven't, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I mean, do I say I love you back? Because that's a really big deal and it's a really important thing, and I know that compared to this whole wedding it's not really all that huge but to me-"

"It's okay," Zuko said. He sighed. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to."

"Oh. Well. Thanks."

"I'm going to keep saying it, though," Zuko said.

"Oh."

"Maybe you should just think of it as code," he said.

"Code?"

"Yeah. It'll be like my secret code phrase for you." He smiled a little. "When I say 'I love you,' it's code for 'don't do something crazy and leave me here on my own.'"

Despite herself, she laughed. "Okay." She hugged her elbows. "I guess in real life, 'I love you' is code for a whole bunch of different things, too. That's why everyone says it when they really mean 'I'm sorry' or 'go chop wood.'"

"I thought when you wanted wood chopped you just asked Sokka to do it."

"Well, yeah, but only because he's dense."

Zuko frowned. "Girls are weird."

"Hey, you're marrying one, so get used to it." Katara hunched over. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at the kissing part, too."

"You're not bad at it."

"It just makes me feel a little weird when there are people watching." She felt her face heating. "I mean, I know you have to for appearances, but doesn't it make you feel weird, too? I don't look anything like Mai. And she seems really mature and everything. She was probably way better at this kind of thing."

"Well you and Mai _are_ different…"

"See?" Katara glanced over at him. "I'm just trying to say that I know you're trying really hard to make this whole thing seem real, and I'm sure people have gotten the point by now, so if you want to take it down a notch-"

His good eye popped. "Is that what you want?" In the flickering light, he seemed to go pale. "If I did something you didn't like, I didn't mean to, I swear, I-"

"No, no, it's okay!" Katara put her hands up. "You've been really…nice. Really, _really_ nice. But I just get…shy." She tried smiling. "I'm kind of new at this."

Zuko's mouth made a little "o" shape. "I see…" He looked at the floor. "Maybe we should make up another code," he said.

"Like what?"

"Like…I'll squeeze your hand twice to ask you if something's okay. And then you squeeze back once for yes and twice for no."

"Won't that look kind of obvious?"

"Not if we're already holding hands," Zuko said.

"Oh. Right." She nodded. "That's a good idea. I like that."

"Good. I'm glad." He gave her a quick look. "Because you know I would never, _ever_ force-"

"I know." She grinned. "I mean, come on. I can stop your heart in one move. There's no way you're going to mess with me."

He sighed and hung his head. "That's for sure…"

Katara wiggled her toes. "Azula said something that's been bothering me."

Zuko stiffened. "It's about my face, isn't it?"

Katara nodded. "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to…"

"I challenged one of his advisors during a war council, and Ozai said that meant I had challenged him. We had an Agni Kai. I lost. The end."

"You fought your dad?"

Zuko swallowed. "No. I didn't fight him. I got down on my knees and begged his forgiveness. But it didn't help. He marked me, anyway, and then I was banished."

Katara's mouth fell open. No wonder Zuko had tried his hardest not to fight with Aang. No wonder he flinched every time Ozai mentioned the Avatar "banishing" him. "Zuko…" She slid one arm around his waist, and leaned against him in a sideways hug. "I'm… I'm really sorry…"

"It's not your fault," he said, a little roughly. "Why should you apologize?"

"…I don't know. It just feels like the right thing to say."

"Well, it's over, now. It's done."

She squeezed him tighter. "I'm sorry I made you come back here. And I'm really, _really_ sorry I didn't heal it…"

His arm settled over her shoulders. "The whole world needs Aang," he said. "I'm the only one who cares about my face."

"Lots of people care about your face! There's your uncle, and Toph, and I bet if your mom saw-"

"My mom probably wouldn't recognize me," Zuko said. He coughed. "She probably wouldn't want to, anyway. I've done some pretty bad things. If she knew about them, she'd be ashamed of me."

Katara pulled away and sat up. "Zuko. Stop. If your mom was ashamed of anybody, it would be Azula."

He almost smiled. "I guess." He frowned. "You know, what your dad said today, he was wrong."

Katara hated the tremor in his voice. "You really think so? I mean, I know you think he was lying anyway, but-"

"He was still wrong to say things like that." He glowered at the floor. "You can't take things like that back, even if you never meant them. You just have to keep working to make it up somehow."

Katara tried to catch his eye. "So you're saying I shouldn't let him off too easy when this is all over?"

Zuko smiled. "Definitely not. Make him work for it."

"Payback, Toph-style?"

The smile broadened. "Exactly. He should be peeling your fruit and getting your food and fluffing your pillows."

Katara made a mocking frown and tapped her chin with one finger. "But…you already do those things for me…"

Zuko's jaw dropped. He pointed. "I'm on to you. You're a total princess."

Her ears burned. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are! You order people around all the time! And you love shiny things!"

"Everyone loves shiny things!" She crossed her arms. "I am _not_ a princess."

"Stick your nose a little higher in the air. That'll really convince me."

She pointed to the bathroom. "You're just lucky I don't drown you, mister."

"Okay, we can check _random threats _off the list…"

"You only have a bad impression of princesses because your sister is such a nasty one!"

"Takes one to know one."

Katara shoved him with both hands. Zuko fell over and raised his hands weakly. "Your oppressive regime is starting already, I see."

She leaned over and punched at him but he grabbed her hands, kept them shaking as she tried lamely to hit him. "I am not _oppressive!_"

He enlaced their fingers, kept his arms steady as she tried to make him hit himself. "Soon you'll want giant fountains in your image raised in every city square; you'll bankrupt the whole Fire Nation-"

"I will _not!_"

"-and you'll re-cast the currency to include Water Tribe symbols-"

"I _should!_"

"I'm marrying a tyrant," Zuko said, grinning.

Katara looked down at their linked hands and his smile. Somehow she had wound up sitting on him, and when she scrambled off she stumbled a little. She took a deep breath and smoothed her clothes. "I am not a tyrant. I am going back to bed."

Zuko swallowed. "That's probably best."

Katara winced. "Sorry for, um, crushing you."

"You didn't."

"Well. Anyway. I should be in bed."

"Okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She made for the door. "Or later today, I guess."

"Right."

"We have a lot to plan."

"I know."

"On both fronts, I mean."

He nodded. "You should think about where you want to go, next. I mean, which place you want to search for clues. Just tell me and we'll go there."

She smiled. "Thanks. I'd like that." She opened the door. "Goodnight. Or, good morning, I guess."

"You too."

She wandered back to her own room and slid under the covers. And slept. And said "Don't you know I'm a princess?" when the guard left her a tray full of breakfast and made a comment about her laziness.

* * *

Late in the morning, however, a guard opened the door without knocking and said: "Time to clean up. You're needed at the plaza."

What followed was a thorough scrubbing and quick brushing of her hair in Azula's opulent hair-combing room. Under the watchful eyes of Li and Lo, Azula's servants coated Katara's hair in water and jasmine oil, so the ends curled, then secured a portion of it in a golden hairpin with the Fire Nation emblem worked into it. They threw her uniform to one side and put her in a new set of robes. They were heavy and formal and had those odd pointed shoulders that Katara always suspected of poking out someone's eye.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"You shall see," Li or Lo said. "Don't worry, little one," one of them added. "You proved yourself when you attacked the Avatar."

Katara winced, and tried to square her shoulders under their new weight. "Where is Zuko?"

"On his way," one said.

And he was. When they ejected Katara in all her heavy finery, she found Zuko outside with his hair pulled back. He wore a suit of black armor edged in gold. On his left wrist, peeking out beneath the black, the blue Water Tribe necklace looked ridiculously out of place. "You look like a prince," she said.

"Don't let the clothes fool you," Azula said, appearing from around the corner. "Inside, he's still a weakling." She eyed Katara up and down. "But I guess beggars can't be choosers." She barked at the Dai Li. "Let's get moving!"

"Where are we going?" Katara asked.

Zuko took her elbow and started walking. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

* * *

A rough, sweaty palanquin ride later, they were ascending the stairs at the royal plaza overlooking the harbor. The white stone seemed to bounce the noonday sun's rays back at the group. Katara squinted, looking at the water. Below, between the parapets and where the earth met the sea, were crowds of soldiers and citizens. Then the drumming started. Mai and Ty Lee took positions behind Azula.

"Get inside," Azula said. "Li and Lo have a taste for theatrics."

"What?"

"We have to make a big entrance," Zuko said, tugging her back into a small anteroom behind amber glass and wrought iron. Katara felt the drumbeats in her feet. Azula's servants had given her new pointy slippers; they kept getting caught in the long drape of her robe. She expected to trip at any second.

"Pull your necklace out," Zuko said.

"Oh-"

"Let me," he said, and reached inside her collar. Scowling, he managed to free the necklace from under her clothes and set it over the fabric so that it shone blue against the ochre.

"THEN, ON THE DAY OF THE ECLIPSE, HIS HEART ON FIRE, PRINCE ZUKO RISKED THE FIRE LORD'S WRATH TO_ CLAIM HIS PRIZE!"_

Cheering sounded. Katara found Zuko's eyes. "What are they saying?"

"AND ON THAT DAY HE _SEALED THE AVATAR'S FATE!_"

The cheers went high. Katara heard stomping. "What do they mean?"

"NOW HE HAS RETURNED WITH THE OBJECT OF HIS QUEST – A TROPHY OF INCOMPARABLE VALUE!"

"I'm sorry," Zuko said.

"THE AVATAR'S WATERBENDER! _YOUR NEW PRINCESS KATARA!"_

"That's us," he said, and took her hand as the doors groaned open on their iron hinges. Fire flared up behind them, and they emerged into the blinding sunlight and the noise of the sea and the crowd. The drums thundered in Katara's ears. On either side of them, Li and Lo held their bony hands aloft.

"NOW WE BEND THE OCEANS!"

"NOW WE HEAL OUR WOUNDS!"

"_NOW THE AVATAR'S FACTION HAS FRACTURED!"_

The crowd screamed. Signal flares erupted from the towers. Katara turned to Zuko. She felt a single tear roll down her face. "Look happy," he said under his breath. "And greet your people."

He pressed her gently forward, and she found the stone railing. Beneath her, the crowd was like a mass of ants, or a great school of fish. And there at her feet, placed there like a prop in a play, were three deep urns full of water. "Give them a demonstration," Li or Lo said. "Show them all what you can do."

Mutely, Katara raised her arms. She glanced at Azula. _I could do it_. _I push her right off this balcony. She'd splat just like an insect._ "Careful," Mai said, appearing suddenly at her shoulder. "You wouldn't want anyone to doubt your loyalties, would you?"

Katara smiled at her. "Azula knows about my loyalties," she said, and made the water shoot up like geysers from their urns. It glittered in the air above her head. She spun it in a circle to the applause of the crowd. "They're to Zuko." She leaned forward and pushed the water into a ball. Flicking her fingers, she froze it, shredded it, and listened as the Fire Nation citizens below hushed and waited for their first taste of snow. It fell slow and sparkling, and despite herself she smiled when she saw their tongues and hands outstretched.

"You're smarter than you look," Mai said, and turned away.

* * *

"Now that the announcement of your nuptials has been made, I suppose we'll have to go through with all the usual formalities," Azula said, during the palanquin ride back to the palace. "Katara, we will have you fitted for a robe and a headpiece. Zuko has already had the contracts drawn up, and we will be stripping down one of the old barges for your trip."

"Trip?" Zuko asked. "What trip?"

"The one you'll be taking after this war is over," Azula said, examining her claw-like fingernails. She raised her eyes and arched a brow at Zuko. "You didn't think that Father had really accepted you back into his home, did you? The truth is that he can still barely stand to look at you. So he's sending you away, where he'll never have to see you again."

Zuko leaned forward. "What?"

Azula crossed her legs. "When Sozin's Comet returns, the Fire Nation will end this war once and for all. But success is meaningless without security – we need to keep what we've won." Her golden gaze slid over to Katara. "And we need _uniquely talented_ people to help us."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

Azula sighed. She turned and looked down at the harbor city slowly fading away below them. "When the Avatar has fallen, you and my brother will be the new colonial governors of the North Pole."

Briefly, Katara imagined herself in Mai's mother's shoes – stealing a city from its people. _"What?"_

"I had thought you would be pleased," Azula said. "Don't tell me that you don't find it a generous offer. We're letting you go. When this is all over, you can return to all that delightful snow and ice and never trouble us again."

"I'm not _from_ the North Pole, I'm Southern-"

"The South Pole has been a useless lump of ice defended by old women and babies, since your family abandoned it," Azula said. "Once it's been crushed, we can build our own infrastructure there. But the North Pole is advanced, and the people are stubborn. We need someone to grease the wheels."

"You want me to betray my own people," Katara said.

"They're not _your_ people, any longer," Azula reminded her. "You're going to be part of _our _family, now, and unless you want to face _another_ firing squad, you won't be committing treason anytime soon." She smiled. "Besides, I thought you came from the South Pole?"

"I trained in the North; I was there for the siege-"

"Which is why it will come as such a bitter disappointment to the people of the North Pole when you arrive on a Fire Nation vessel," Azula said, smiling more broadly now. "Of course, we _could_ send someone else. Minister Jiang has had a keen eye on the North since Zhao's defeat; he _insists_ that he could have done better. Really we only held him in reserve because of his temper – he makes Zhao look like a cute little koalamb, by comparison…"

"Jiang is a brute and a menace," Zuko said.

"Yes, and it would be shame if he took that out on the willing, able bodies of our new Northern labor force," Azula said. "But if Katara isn't interested in the job…"

"What would I have to do?" Katara asked.

"Keep the supply lines full and flowing," Azula said. "The Fire Nation is very interested in the North Pole's fish, seal oil, and fresh water. We need food and fuel to keep our new developments in good shape. And you're just the person to help us." Azula nodded to Li and Lo and the Dai Li. "With some assistance, of course – I would send only my best to accompany you and keep their eyes out for any…trouble." Her eyes sparkled.

"This wasn't part of the plan," Zuko said through his teeth.

"Plans change," Azula said. Her face softened a little. "I'm doing everything I can to keep you alive, Dum-Dum. Father believes that your marriage will lure the Avatar out of hiding. But he knows that simply roasting Katara over an open fire would be a lot faster. The Avatar couldn't care less about _you_, but he clearly still has feelings for her. Which leaves you worse than useless, unless I can think up a reason to keep you around." She folded her arms. "Everything has a price, Zuko. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, and so is the Fire Nation. If you want the freedom to live as you please, you have to work for it."

"But this plan doesn't even make sense!" Zuko pointed at Katara. "She's a _master waterbender._ With the people of the North Pole behind her, she could incite a rebellion!"

"That won't be a problem, Zuko," Azula said. She steepled her fingers. "Katara knows what will happen if I hear that she's let the Northern Water Tribe get out of line." Her eyes narrowed. "You both will be killed, and the North Pole will melt under Fire Nation missiles."

"But what if we don't agree in the first place?" Katara asked.

'Then I will send Jiang to the North Pole to do his worst," Azula said. "And you will lose the chance to stand between what remains of the Water Tribe and the Fire Lord's wrath." Her eyes focused on Katara's. "Your people abandoned you, Katara. Remember that when Sozin's Comet arrives, and everything will be fine."

"Why that day?" Zuko asked.

"Because Father has chosen it to be your wedding day, Zuko," Azula said. She smiled and tucked a bit of hair behind one ear. "After all, what better time to celebrate having stolen the Avatar's waterbender than on the day of our greatest triumph?"

"You want Aang to show up when you're at your most powerful," Zuko said. "He's a firebender, too, the Comet will give him the same-"

"The Comet gives _all_ firebenders great power, Zuko," Azula said. "We are many. He is one."

"He's the Avatar," Katara said.

"You say that like it means something," Azula said. "The last I saw, the Avatar was a weeping child who let two of his teachers pummel him. He's weak, because the two of you are weak. You spoiled him, and now he's not strong enough to accomplish his goal."

"If you kill him, he'll just reincarnate," Zuko said.

"We won't be killing him," Azula said. "We'll be putting him somewhere very safe for the rest of his life. And then, when he dies at a ripe old age, the Fire Nation will already have a base in each Water Tribe stronghold." She smiled. "It'll make catching the next one that much easier."

Katara's stomach fought to come up through her throat. She had trouble catching her breath. Zuko's arm slid down from her shoulders and he found her hand. Their fingers enlaced. "We need time to think about this," he said.

"Take all the time you need," Azula said. "If you decide against it, I'm sure Father can think up something else for Katara to do."

* * *

Back at the palace, Katara waited until they had reached their rooms to say: "I'd like to speak with Zuko alone, please."

"Go right ahead," one of the guards said, winking. Frowning, Zuko followed her into her room. His new boots made an odd clinking against the floorboards, and her hot, swollen feet were glad of the respite when she slowly toed her slippers off. Katara turned to face him. He looked so different in his black armor. More royal, yes, but somehow paler and older and tired.

"Tell me you didn't know about this," she said.

"Know about what?"

"Oh, I don't know, the fact that Azula wants me to _colonize my own people?_"

Zuko shook his head and held up his hands. "I didn't know! I swear!"

Katara hated her voice for coming out raspy and weak. "So this wasn't just part of the plan? You're not just springing it on me now because I agreed to this?" She pointed at the necklace.

Zuko's mouth opened, then closed. He looked at the floor. "No. I promise. She surprised me, too."

She held one trembling hand up. "Because if I find out that you knew, Zuko, I swear to you, we're done, it's _over_-"

"Katara." He took hold of her hands at the wrists. "I didn't know. I promise. If I had known, I would have told you. You have to believe me." His eyes seemed to almost glow. Then he shut them and she saw the tremor in his jaw. "_Please_ believe me. _Please_."

"I want to," Katara whispered. "I want to believe you because I think you've really changed and if you betray me now I won't ever, ever forgive you-"

Then her face was crushed up against the armor and she smelled clove oil and wool and leather, and under that odd spiky surface he was shaking just like his hands and his voice. "I _won't_," he said. "I won't betray you. Ever. I promise."

"Please don't let this be Ba Sing Se again…"

"It's _not._ It's not. I promise you, it's not." His arms circled her waist. "I made a terrible mistake that day. And I won't let it happen again. I won't let you down."

"You did," she said into the armor. "You let me down and it hurt _so much_ because I felt so _stupid_ for trusting you and wanting to believe you could be different and for offering to heal you and… And then you just…"

"I know," he said. "But I know now what I should have done then, and I'm trying my best to do it."

She sniffed. "What's that?"

His chin dug into her shoulder, and she felt the rough scrape of scar on her ear when he pulled her up closer. "This."

Something in her blood tingled. She had re-imagined that moment hundreds of times, had seen the possibilities breaking away from it like jagged impact fractures in smooth ice, had wondered what it be like to heal such a large wound and whether the water would have worked and _if I had just done it sooner, would he have come with us?_ And sometimes her speculations ended in grateful hugs or a smiling face, but they had never ended this way: with Zuko holding her and making her feel safe and promising to never, ever hurt her again. They never ended with her lifting her arms up around his neck and standing on her toes just to do it, or the odd sigh that sagged out of him when she did that, like he could finally put something down, or the way his hand came up and found her hair, fisted in the carefully-wrought curls. They never ended with his unsteady breath on her neck creating a helpless tickle in her spine or the way her hips moved in response or the way he hissed and tightened his grip and-

-the door banged open. "Waterbender's needed; Fire Lord's orders."

In her ear, Zuko cursed very softly. He turned so that he stood between her and the guard. "We're not finished."

"So I gathered, but like I said, Fire Lord's orders." The guard proceeded in. Flanking him were two Dai Li carrying manacles – and a black hood.

Zuko stepped back, still positioning himself between Katara and the others. "Why do you need those? Where are you taking her?"

"We can't tell you that," the guard said.

He assumed a defensive posture. "Then tell me how you expect to take my _wife_ away in _chains_."

"Come on, don't make this harder than it already is…"

Katara stepped forward. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me – hey!" Dai Li manacles had already snaked forward and grabbed her arms. She wrestled against them. "What's going on?" They wrenched her to her knees.

Zuko lunged forward. "Katara-" The guard gave him a quick fist to the stomach. He coughed, then stumbled over to her. The guard pulled him away just before his fingers reached her. Zuko struggled, fish-like, in the other man's grip. He growled through his teeth: "Take those cuffs _off_. She hasn't _done_ anything!"

"She's just earning her keep," one of the Dai Li agents said, before the hood descended over Katara's face and cinched closed. Katara heard rough scrambling across the floor before the Dai Li tugged her up and pushed her toward the door.

"Let her go!" Zuko's voice cracked. "We're willing to cooperate! _Katara!_"

She half-turned, and spoke into darkness. "Zuko, just calm down, it'll be okay." _Don't do anything stupid. Don't slip up. Don't make it worse on yourself._ "I – I love you."

"I love you, too."

Between them, the door slammed.

* * *

They took her far down into the tunnels via Fire Lord Ozai's room. Ozai joined them there – she heard his strange rough breathing and heard the whisper of his robes across the floor. She recognized the stairs and the sound of lightning as it crackled into the vault's door. But she did her best to betray no sign of familiarity with the area, and kept asking: "where are we?" despite repeated elbows to her ribs. The guards hustled her along; she was panting and sweating by the time they reached the destination. It was hot where she was, now, and the air tasted different – old, stale, sulphurous.

When they removed the hood she found herself standing in a small room rimmed with water pipes and guttering sconces. She turned and saw a thick steel door behind them.

"Over here," Ozai said, and her attention turned to a small table in the center of the room. On it was a half-dressed man, pale and sweaty. Wiry gray whiskers sprouted from his chin. He groaned and gritted his teeth. When Katara looked at his shoulder, she saw why.

He bled profusely from several holes in the shoulder. They were the size of copper pieces, and the skin surrounding them was ragged but burned, like the marks left behind when a coal escaped the fire and landed on the hem of a dress. It was not the clean slice of a sword or the star-shaped hole of an arrow. Katara looked from the wound to Ozai. "What did this?"

"That is not important," the Fire Lord said. "Can you heal it?"

Katara gulped. With bloodbending, she probably could heal it. Then again, the man had already lost so much. Blood soaked the towels under his shoulder, and it pattered slowly on the thirsty stones in the floor. "I need water."

Two guards brought forward a copper urn of water, and Katara summoned it in a serpentine shape that she worked over her hands. She edged closer to the man. "I'm a healer," she said. "I can use waterbending to make you better."

His eyes burning, the breath heaving through his clenched teeth, the man on the table stared at her. He blinked and squinted. "I…know you…"

She shook her head. "I'm from the South Pole-"

"Yes. The girl. He stole you away."

Katara worked her hands over the wound. "Excuse me?"

"G…_Go jump in the river!"_

Goosebumps rose on her arms. "You were part of Zuko's crew?"

"J…Jee. Lieutenant. At your service." He gurgled in his throat. "The prince… how…?"

Katara watched a soft glow begin to emit from the water. "Zuko is fine," she said. "He… Well, we're getting married soon."

Jee sighed. He turned to look at the glowing water. "That's… That's really good…" His eyes closed. "I haven't seen my wife in such a long time…"

"You should have thought of that before you joined the Deserter," Ozai said. "Now unless the waterbender can fix you, you'll never see her again." Ozai's eyebrow rose. "With any luck, your sons will learn from their father's mistakes, and show more respect."

Lieutenant Jee tried sitting up. "You leave them alone-"

Katara pressed him back down as Ozai began to laugh. "Easy, easy…" She summoned fresh water and pressed it to the wound. "Try not to talk, okay?"

Lieutenant Jee swallowed. He watched her work from the corner of his eye. Once again, the water began to glow. Katara concentrated on the wound. She let the water slide gently inside the puncture marks. She winced. Something had torn into the shoulder and exploded there. When she withdrew the water, it was bloody, and it felt strangely heavy, as though something tiny were trapped inside beyond her reach. She plunged the water in again, as gently as she could – Lieutenant Jee squirmed and arched up off the table – and concentrated on his blood. _Show me what's wrong. Show me._

Memories slapped her hard as high tide. She saw Jee tied to a wooden beam in a dark place, saw him struggling against his bonds and saw him staring at a man who held something strange in both hands: golden, dragon-shaped, and when he lifted it he said _you brought this on yourself_ before something exploded and there was hot, thudding pain and something sharp burying itself in her shoulder-

She coughed and stumbled. "Impressive," Ozai said. He stood and then he was behind her, too close for comfort, and he was peering over her shoulder at the place where she had sealed closed the wounds in Jee's shoulder. "Excellent work, waterbender."

Katara bristled. It was clearly his fault she'd had to do this job in the first place, because he and Azula and the people under their command liked to do sick things to nice people. She gave him what she hoped was a mutinous look and said. "Thanks. _Dad._"

Ozai's eyes fluttered briefly at that. "You may address me as Fire Lord Ozai," he said, standing taller. "And after your marriage you may call me _Father._"

Katara turned away and looked to Jee. "How are you feeling? Is some of the pain gone?"

Wincing, Jee flexed the fingers on that side. "Yes…" He stared at her and worked the shoulder in a slow circle. "This is amazing. You're a great healer."

"Bend," Ozai commanded. "That arm is only good for shovelling coal if it can't bend fire."

Jee's lips became a thin line. He moved his arm in a classic firebending punch. Nothing happened. He breathed deeply, and exhaled with his punch. Again, nothing. "What's going on?" he asked. He punched again. "Why can't I bend? What's happening?" He turned to Ozai. "What did you people do?" He twisted up and his uninjured arm came up full of fire. "You said it was just a weapons test, you monsters…" He reeled and fell to his knees. Katara grabbed him under the arms and lowered him slowly to the floor.

Behind her, Ozai was laughing in the back of his throat. Katara turned and saw him smiling with an odd look of triumph, as though he had wished for this all along. "Kill the traitor," Ozai said.

"No! He's lost a lot of blood. He doesn't know what he's saying." Katara bit her lip. "Besides, don't you want to know if this is only temporary?" She turned to Jee. "Your bending could come back, right? You don't know that it won't."

Jee's lips quirked. "You're such a nice girl. No wonder he likes you."

"I mean it, you're going to be okay, I healed you, I did my best…" Her vision blurred. "You're going to bend again, I promise…"

Jee patted her head. "You take care of the prince, now. He's the best man I've ever served under. Saved our helmsman, in a storm."

Katara nodded as they lifted Jee up and away from her and clamped manacles around his wrists. "I'll try…"

Then the hood closed over her head, and they were marching her away. She barely noticed the trip back. There was a lump of ice in her stomach, and a new plan forming in her mind.

* * *

Back upstairs, she asked to be let into Zuko's room. "I have a message to deliver from an old friend," she said.

The guard chuckled, and let her in. He ripped the hood off and she fell forward into Zuko's arms. He pushed her away immediately. His hands clamped down on her shoulders. Behind them, the door clanged shut. She jumped. He was looking at her dress, her hands. "Why is there blood?" he asked in a hoarse voice. His grip turned to iron. "Katara, look at me."

Her eyes rose. His were tiny golden points. He spoke low and she saw the tendons in his neck straining, as though he were holding back a roar. _"What did they do?"_

She blinked. Her voice came out in a barely-audible rasp. "I've seen the weapon."

Zuko swallowed. His grip slackened a little. "And?"

She shook her head. "It's bad."

"How bad?"

She leaned forward. Somehow saying it in anything but a whisper made it seem more real and less like the nightmare she fervently wished it really were. "It…" She spoke into his good ear. _"It took Lieutenant Jee's bending away."_

Zuko stilled. "…What?"

"He joined Jeong-Jeong the Deserter. Then they caught him. And they tested the weapon on him. And I tried to heal him, I really tried, I did my best, but it wasn't good enough…" She suppressed a sob. "It's ready." She thought of her people, suddenly deprived of one of their greatest gifts. She thought of the horror and frustration she felt each time Ty Lee took her bending with her sharp, unerring fingers. "We're too late…"

"That's not true," Zuko said. "We know what it is, now. We know what we're up against." He stiffened. His fists trembled at his sides. "I'll kill them for doing this to Jee. He was an excellent officer, and-"

"Zuko."

"Yes?"

"Please don't do anything like that. Lieutenant Jee asked me to take care of you." She leaned one cheek against his tunic. He had changed clothes. She saw the armor in a pile on the floor. "Please, just…just stay here, right now. Please. If that's okay."

"It's okay." Very slowly, his arms came up around her. "It's okay. I'll stay."

"Don't do something stupid." Her throat hurt terribly. Her face was hot and her head ached. "Don't… Don't run off and…and…leave me here, okay?"

"I won't." He was pressing her closer and she felt his chin in her shoulder. "I won't abandon you."

For some reason, this undid her. Suddenly she was crying and it was messy and wet and her breath was uneven and sharp, and Zuko was patting the back of her head. She felt him tug her hairpin out and throw it away; she heard it clatter across the floor before his fingers wove into her hair. "I'm sorry," she said thickly. "I tried so hard and I thought I did okay but then he couldn't bend, and it's my fault and he was so nice, he said such nice things about you…"

"That's Jee," Zuko said tightly. "A good man until the end."

Katara sobbed harder and Zuko dug his chin into her shoulder a little more. "All I ever do is fail in front of you," she said, her breath getting ahead of her. "Every single time, I just screw up." She swallowed. "At the Oasis, and then Ba Sing Se, and here, too, I just keep failing-"

"Don't say that. Don't even think that." He hugged her. "Bad things happen. And back then, that bad thing was me."

Katara laughed despite herself. "I guess."

"It's true. Every time I won those fights, I lost part of myself." He snorted. "With the pirates, I just wanted you to be scared enough to let me save you." He stepped away. "That's kind of crazy, isn't it? Now you probably really are scared."

"Not really. I knew you were crazy to start with." She squinted. "Were you…crying?"

"What? No." He scrubbed at his good eye with the heel of his hand. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, I don't know, but it's okay if you were-"

"I wasn't!"

"Okay!" She looked across this new, awkward distance between them and almost wished he were hugging her again. She pointed at the bathroom. "Well…fill up the bathtub! I'm all…sweaty. And bloody."

He nodded. "Okay." He pushed past her into the bathroom, and a moment later she heard water in the tub. He returned and leaned against the doorframe. "It's big," he said. "It takes a while."

She nodded. "Right."

He gulped. "So. Jee joined Jeong-Jeong."

"Yeah. Your dad said so, anyway." She pursed her lips. "I kinda got him a little mad, I think."

Zuko's good eye widened. "What? How?"

"Well, I was just really annoyed, and I kinda called him…_Dad_."

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great."

"I just wanted to rub it in, you know, that he's going to have Water Tribe daughter-in-law instead of some stiff, uptight puppet-"

"Mai's not a puppet." Zuko licked his lips. "At least, not all the time."

Katara looked at the floor. "I didn't mean to bring her up, I just meant that-"

"I know. It's okay." He peeled away from the doorframe. "It's not like we seriously talked about things like that, anyway. Mai liked to keep things…light."

Katara traced the grain of wood a floorboard with one toe. "You really liked her a lot, huh?"

"Yes." He sighed. "She…accepted me."

"Did she write you, when you went away?"

"No, I didn't tell her where I was going, I just said-"

"No, I meant before, when your dad…" Katara didn't really want to say it. "When your hair was different?"

He laughed ruefully. "No. No she didn't. No letters."

"Did she send you anything? What about your birthdays?"

Zuko shook his head. "No."

"…So, she only accepted you after you joined Azula?"

Zuko flinched. He blinked. "I… I have to go check on your bath." He vanished into the shadows. A moment later, he said: "It's ready."

Katara stepped inside. He'd lit all the sconces and filled the black tub with steaming water. Zuko pointed. "There's soap, and towels, and you know, it's all right here…" He headed for the door.

"Can you take this off me?" Katara turned her back to him and lifted up her hair. "Please?"

"…Take what off you?"

"My necklace."

"Oh. Right. Sure." Warm fingers plucked at her neck, and the necklace came away. Zuko laid it on a towel. "Um… You collar… I don't know if you know how…"

"I don't," she said. "They sort of put it on me, I don't remember how to-"

"It's okay," he said. "I can, um, get it started."

"…Thanks."

"It's, um, it's actually in the front."

"Oh. Yeah. I remember." She turned and he was right there, so she bumped into him a little. He steadied her and when she stilled his hands didn't leave. Instead, they traced up along the heavy, pointed shoulders and met at her neck.

"It's tricky," he said very quietly. "It's really delicate. The clasp, I mean."

"Uh-huh," she said, and wondered how he could smell so good. Maybe after using his soap, she'd smell the same.

"Your neck might hurt," he said, as his fingers slipped on the collar. "These things are heavy, so if you don't know how to walk right…"

Something clicked and he lifted the heavy collar away. Katara rolled her shoulders to loosen them. She felt so much lighter and smaller with it gone. "Thanks. That's better."

"You look like yourself again," Zuko said.

"Thanks. I think."

"No, it's good. Looking like yourself is good." He frowned. "I mean, looking the way you look is good. I mean, if you looked different, it would be weird! Not that you can't change, if you want to, but how you are now is fine, and you've changed anyway since I met you-"

"You told me," Katara said, smiling. "Remember? When Li and Lo made you drink that tea? You said I looked different."

"You do," he said. He took a deep breath. "Well, I'll just be outside-"

Someone pounded on the door. "Time's up!"

Zuko looked to Katara. She shook her head. There was no way she was going back to her room, now. Zuko nodded and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. "No way!" she heard him shout.

She heard the door to the hall groan open. "What?" the guard asked. "Wait. Where's the waterbender?"

"_Princess Katara_ is in there," Zuko said. "Having her bath."

"Well, she'd better get out-"

"Fine! Face an angry _waterbender_ in a tub full of _water._ See if I care!"

Katara quickly bent some water around in the tub and made splashing sounds. Then she slid off her dress as quickly as possible, and dove into the water. Weaving her hands through the air, she raised a veil of vapor around herself, then turned around so that her back faced the bathroom door. When the door opened, she heard someone choking on steam and carefully turned only her head. The guard stood in the doorway, his face very red.

"Hey," she said, hugging her knees to her chest. "You're not Zuko."

The guard's eyes widened. He staggered back a little, right into Zuko, who had somehow divested himself of his shirt in record time. "I believe that's your cue to leave," he said, smirking. He pushed the other man lightly in the chest. "Get out."

Zuko didn't even bother to watch the other man leave. He entered the steamy bathroom, kicked the door shut, and closed his eyes. A moment later, they heard the door to the hallway close, too. Then he started laughing. He slid slowly to the floor, eyes still closed, and settled there with his head in his hands as he laughed. Katara started giggling, too. Soon they were both laughing.

"You're a genius," he said, hanging his head.

"Well, it seems like they already think some pretty nasty things about us, so…"

"No, it was a great idea. I think you got our wedding moved up a few days, right there."

Katara laughed. "Probably. I bet those old ladies will inspect me for swollen ankles, and ask me if I'm craving fermented sea prunes."

"Ewww…"

"Hey, it's perfectly natural! When Mom was carrying Sokka, she ate twice as much meat!"

"Oh, great. And I thought you were a tyrant _before_…" Katara quickly bent water up over her shoulder in his direction. "Hey, no bending when my eyes are closed!"

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot."

"Liar."

"It's a good thing your eyes are closed; you can't see the face I'm making."

"I'm sure I can picture it." She heard him roll over on his side. "Hey."

"Hey, what?"

"About Azula's plan," Zuko said. "What if we had to go through with it?"

Katara took up the bar of soap. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, what if the day of the Comet comes, and no one shows up?"

"They're going to show up," Katara said, lathering the soap. "They have to show up."

"I know, but what if they don't? What if something happens? What if…"

"What if we lose?" Katara asked. "That's what you meant to say, isn't it?"

"…Yes." He paused. "What do we do, then?"

Katara looked at her fingernails. Lieutenant Jee's blood was still under them. "Are you asking me to go with you to the North Pole?"

"I don't know," Zuko said in a hollow voice. "Would you go?"

"And be under Azula's thumb all the time?"

"It's better than dying," Zuko said. "It's better than a cage or a firing squad. And you could help your people. You could stand between them and the Northern Fleet. You could let them keep some of the things that make them unique."

"Everything except their bending," Katara said, raising a ribbon of water in a spiral. "You know that's what the new weapon is meant to do. It's designed so that even if the wound heals, the person can't bend. So they can never fight back. So the Fire Nation will always have the upper hand. That's why Azula isn't worried about a rebellion at the North Pole."

"New benders will be born," Zuko said.

"But who will teach them, if there's no one left to bend?" Katara asked. She turned again. "Don't you see that this isn't just one nation's problem? This new weapon isn't some big thing that we can just take out with a single direct hit. It's small enough to carry in your hands. The generals are going to give it to their men in the field, and they're going to hunt down everyone who isn't a firebender and-"

"I know that!" Zuko punched the wall. "I've sat on the war councils. I know what Fire Nation warfare looks like. I know how thorough it is." He flexed his fingers. "That's why I think we should consider Azula's offer."

"Are you crazy? Azula _always lies._ Haven't you learned that by now?"

Zuko snorted. "Yes. I have."

"So why are we even discussing it?"

"We could be safe. We could protect your people. Sort of. Unless Aang takes down both Ozai _and_ Azula on the day of the Comet, we could be running for the rest of our lives. This way, we could…I don't know, turn into crotchety old bending teachers or something."

"Crotchety old _married_ bending teachers, Zuko."

"I know," he said softly. He cleared his throat. "I mean, there would probably be lots of Water Tribe guys there, and if you wanted to, you could-"

Katara silenced him with an epic water whip that snapped across his ribs. "I've never even had a real boyfriend and you already suspect me of _cheating?_"

Zuko steamed himself dry, rubbing his ribs as he stared at the wall. "Well, I don't know! It's either that, or-"

"Or we could just not give up," Katara said. She began scrubbing herself vigorously. "I know it sounds tempting to go up to the North Pole and live like royalty-"

"-we _are _royalty-"

"-but we just can't. There are people counting on us."

"Your brother and your dad asked me to take care of you," Zuko said. "And even if I fail at everything else, I could get that part right."

"And your uncle and Lieutenant Jee asked _me_ to look after _you_, and I really don't think this is what either of them meant," she said. "You would _hate_ it at the North Pole."

"I could learn to like it," Zuko said. "It was…interesting. All that ice."

Katara giggled. "_Interesting?_ That's the best you can do?"

"I'm trying, okay? I just want you to know that we can go back there if you want to, and I won't think any less of you!" He huffed. "There. I said it. I'm done."

Katar turned around completely and hand-crawled through the water to put her chin on the rim of the tub. She watched Zuko tighten the ball he'd curled himself into on the floor. "Hey."

"What?"

"I think my healing is getting better, because the moon is waxing," she said. "Lieutenant Jee's memories didn't hit me as hard this time. It wasn't as difficult."

"Maybe you're just getting better," Zuko said.

"My bloodbending's going to be really strong, by the time the full moon comes," she said. "And that's right around when the Comet is due."

Zuko's sat up. "What are you saying?"

Katara blinked. "I'm saying that I'm tired of following everyone's orders," she said. "This whole mission has been about someone else's plan for us. First your uncle's, then Azula's, then Iroh's again, and now Azula's too. And I'm sick of it."

He nodded. "Me too. But what do you want to do about it?"

Katara curled her fingers around the lip of the tub. "I think it's time we took matters into our own hands." She stared through the steam at Zuko. "If Aang doesn't show up that day, we can't go to the North Pole. We have to take down your dad and your sister."

Zuko paled. "Do you even know what you're suggesting?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"We'll die. They'll execute us."

"I can make it look like an accident." Katara swallowed. "If I practice my bloodbending, I can make it look like they just choked, or like they died in their sleep."

"It'll never work," Zuko said. "We can't get them both that way. And if we leave time in between, they'll suspect us and have us killed."

"Then we stage it to look like Azula tried to kill your dad and failed, but still wounded him," Katara said.

Zuko leaned forward. "You've really thought this through." He frowned. "Are you sure you're not from the Fire Nation?"

"Very funny, Sparky."

He grinned. "So. The weapon."

"Yes," Katara said. "I think the Mechanist must have a factory in the bunker. The place where they took me today seemed very…bunker-y."

"Did it smell like dead air and a hot spring?"

"Yes."

"That's the bunker." Zuko sat up. "We should try to get into contact with Ty Lee. Wai Lee. Whatever."

"Right," Katara said. "Did you want to hit the bunker tonight?"

Zuko shook his head. "No. You did healing today, and it feels like we haven't slept in days. I don't want you getting sick."

It was hard to nod with her chin on the tub. "Okay." She tapped her fingers on the black stone. "I should still practice my bloodbending, though. Just in case."

"No," he said. "The last time you practiced, you were asleep for days."

"I didn't mean on myself."

"Oh." He frowned. "Are you trying to ask me for help?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Why didn't you just ask, then?" Carefully, he turned around and opened the bathroom door from his knees before standing up. Without turning back to look at her, he said: "Tonight. Just…come in. Whenever you want. I'll be waiting."

Then he shut the door, leaving Katara to wonder why those final three words made her heart hammer so hard.

* * *

**Things are coming to a head...**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Paramount, Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I liked where it ended. **

**Thanks: Everyone who has produced such lovely art! Drisela, H-Thar, and CoppeliaD continue to amaze me with their fabulous contributions. Thank you so much. **

* * *

I must in the face of a storm, think, live and die as a king. **- Frederick II**

* * *

She told herself there was no reason to be nervous.

_Come on. You've fought him how many times and you choose tonight to get jumpy? After he's been nothing but nice? Very generous, Katara. What a kind and compassionate spirit you have. _

Of course, she had one very logical reason for her nerves: she could hurt him. Bloodbending was scary and demeaning and dangerous. If she lost her concentration during a session with Master Pakku, all she received was a dose of sarcasm and the urge to do better next time. But if she let one thing slip while bending Zuko's blood, his heart could stop beating. He could die.

And, she discovered, she very much did _not_ want Zuko to die.

That made logical sense too, of course. If something happened to Zuko, she would be alone with Azula and Ozai – well, not _completely_ alone, if Wai Lee could be trusted – and she would probably lose her temper, then do her best to plant an icicle in both their throats before winding up in front of another firing squad. Plus, by Azula's logic, Ozai didn't need Zuko to lure Aang out of hiding – Katara was juicy enough bait on her own. And being slow-roasted on a spit wasn't exactly Katara's idea of a good time. It made marrying Zuko look like a day at the spa.

It wasn't her logical side that was afraid, though. It wasn't logic that made her nervous enough to dawdle and stare into the darkness waiting for just the right time, wondering if he was waiting, too. Rather it was this new feeling, fresh and tender and raw as skin after a blister, that she didn't exactly want to name, but seemed painfully similar to weakness, vulnerability, and shyness. And she hadn't had a lot of time, since joining Aang, to be any of those things. The last time she had been allowed the room to just let it all go was when she stood inside her father's arms and tried hard to forgive him for something that wasn't really his fault but still stung like a fresh wound. Nobody else really had the time or the ability to let her be anything but a teacher or a spy or a soldier.

Not so with Zuko, though. He kept on seeing the worst of her, and sticking around for more. And that was somehow more frightening than the Unagi, Admiral Zhao, and being buried alive _combined._

So it was with heavy footsteps that, after pulling on her teashop uniform – someone had cleaned it, for which she was grateful – she moved through the shadows and into Zuko's room. Instantly, a tiny ball of flame appeared in his palm. He was sitting up in bed, one knee pulled up to his chest. "Took you long enough," he said.

"I'm kind of worried," Katara said, after sliding the door shut behind her. "I could really hurt you."

He seemed to almost smile. "We can go slow."

"Oh. Okay. Good. That's good." She swallowed. "You'll tell me if I hurt you, right?"

"Sure. Just don't make me, you know, shout. That would be bad."

"Right." She nodded, rocked on her heels. "So, um, maybe – hey!"

He had snuffed the fire out. Now she stood in complete darkness, blinking and listening for his footsteps and instead hearing the soft rustling of him shifting weight. "If we want to attack Ozai and Azula, we'll have to do it at night, in the dark," he said. "While they're asleep."

"Oh. Right. Of course." She stretched her fingers. "So, um, just pretend to sleep?"

"Sure."

She heard him bury himself down in the covers. A very perverse part of her wondered how far Zuko was taking the practice: she hadn't seen a shirt, and Ozai's preferences had been a nasty surprise for both of them… She shook her head to clear it and exhaled. Concentrating, she found the major vessels inside Zuko's body, and the little crossroads under his ribs that pulsed with life like a thriving market inside him. She was glad of the dark, suddenly; it hid her smile. "You _are_ wearing pants, right?"

Just like that, the heart in her grip jumped. Her smile broadened. He cleared his throat. "Well," he said, "unlike Ozai, I'm actually prepared for a bloodbender assassin to sneak inside my room and try killing me."

"Prepared, huh?" She spread her awareness to his limbs. "Let's just see about that."

And then she had his arms. She focused on the veins and took hold of the hands. But then he was up and moving – she had forgotten his legs! – and she saw fire arcing where one of his feet circled free of the bed. Quickly she expanded her control to all his limbs. He fell flat, arms still behind his back. She let him lie there for a second, muscles twitching under her grip, heart thudding inside him.

"See?" he said in a choked voice. "Pants."

"It's nice when you dress up for work," she said. "Maybe I should make you wear an apron."

"Maybe you should let me go so we can try again."

Rolling her eyes, Katara let him free. He sprang back up and stretched before sliding between the covers. "All tucked in?" she asked.

"Yes. Now aim for the heart this time."

"Hey, I don't take orders from you," she said. She stretched his arms and legs so he made a rough star shape. His arms and legs trembled against the control, and sweat broke out at her hairline. "Be careful, or this will turn into a dancing lesson."

He sighed fire. "Yes, Princess Katara…"

She grinned. "That's better." She stretched his arms up, made them weave the air in reversed waterbending forms. "I thought you said I could go slow," she said, pinning the arms while pulling one of his legs up toward the ceiling. Frowning, she made it bend back toward his head; it got disturbingly close before he grunted and she eased up. "Wow, you're really flexible. You could probably scratch your ear with your foot!"

"…Do I look like an alley-puma to you?" She made his leg describe a circle in the air. "So, um, my blood," he said. "Do you, uh, _see_ it, or…?"

"No," Katara, said. She put his leg down and raised his arms. "I just know it's there. Like how Toph knows her way underground, when the rest of us don't. I know where all your blood goes."

"Oh," Zuko said. "That's…great." A little tremor reverberated through his heart. He spoke up: "Can you feel it all the time?"

"Only when I'm concentrating," Katara said. "And it's really hard."

"When it's really-"

"No, I mean, it's really hard when there's no full moon," Katara said. "It gives me a headache. You know. You've seen it." She made him sit up, suddenly, and deliberately hunched his back. "Don't tell you've forgotten. Are you going senile in your old age?"

He spoke in his Iroh voice: _"Mind your manners, young lady."_

"Make me," she said, and bent him back into the pillows.

"My heart," Zuko said, after a moment. "I want you to try to stop it."

"I'll have a hard time catching it, if it keeps racing so fast."

He almost laughed. "Just come over here, before we lose our nerve."

Her feet were heavy, until she took that first step. And then she was standing over him – she couldn't see him, just hear his light breathing and feel his heartbeat like a live animal inside her awareness. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Here goes." She reached over and let her bending guide her hand over his ribs. For a strange moment, she found herself reminded of Momo and missed him powerfully: his purring and his warmth and his chattering. And that memory gave her the peace to do what she had to next: squeeze.

He let out a surprised "Oh," and then all the vessels and passages in his heart went suddenly silent and still. It was like seeing a perfect map of an area for just a second before it burned up – she was reminded of what Sokka had said about Master Piandao's trials. And then she splayed her fingers and released the heart and the blood inside it, and he let out a shuddering sigh and she sat down on the bed before she could fall.

"You did it," he said.

"Yeah," she said. "Hey, let me have some light."

A little ball of fire started in his palm, and he sent it to the sconce. He looked none the worse for wear, although maybe a little paler. (Then again, who wouldn't be?) He was even smiling. "No headache, this time?"

"Just a little dizzy," Katara said. "Let me have another look at your blood. I just want to make sure I didn't do any permanent damage."

"It's a little late now, isn't it?" he asked.

"Honestly, Zuko, we really have to work on your attitude…" She plunged her awareness into his blood. No clots, no broken vessels, no strain, just his heart picking up speed as her hands wove over him.

"I'm okay," he said, and tried edging away.

"Sit still," she said, and bent his arms back down. She noticed the blue at his wrist and reached over to fix the slipping fabric – her pendant had come loose of its binding on his wrist and she couldn't stop herself from tucking it back in.

When she turned her attention back to him, she was aware of two things. The first was that in her haste she had accidentally bent his right arm up at a funny angle, so that his right hand had glued itself to the span of her ribs her uniform didn't cover. The second was the heat from that hand on her skin. She gulped. "You're really warm."

"Fever," he said.

She looked him over. "You do seem kind of flushed," she said, and took a deep breath. And when she exhaled icy vapor across his skin she told herself it was like blowing on hot soup. But then he clenched his teeth and bit something back and arched up a little and his blood lurched, went tidal, as though it had bent itself. His hand on her skin kneaded her helplessly. And something told her that the simple act of creating mist from her mouth wouldn't be ordinary or familiar, any longer. It would always be colored by this moment and that sound and those fingers, and whatever happened next.

"You need to let my hands go," Zuko said in a tight voice. "Right now. Please."

She freed them. He didn't move, right away. She saw his throat working as he swallowed and raised his right hand, skimmed it up along her ribs, raising goosebumps along the way, until it was on the left side of her face, with his thumb over her mouth and his fingers in her hair – like the night Li and Lo poisoned him, like Ba Sing Se. _I know now what I should have done then._

"I don't know what to do, next," Katara said, in a hushed voice. His thumb tasted of salt.

"It's like bending," Zuko said. "You picture what you want, and then you just…make it happen."

She smiled. "Just like that, huh?"

He nodded. "Just like that."

"Oh." She started moving. "Well, here goes, then." And then her lips landed on his forehead. She caught two different textures, rough and smooth, where the seam of the scar met his skin. She travelled from there, over his good eyebrow and down the temple and across to his nose, and the very tip of it. "This is how you did it, isn't it?" she asked, pleased with herself. "You were the perfect gentleman. I should really return the favor."

"Katara, if you don't – _oh._"

Under her lips the scar was oddly smooth. She had thought it would be rough and it was, where it had rippled, but between the seams it was glossy as melted ash. He had no eyelashes, there, and no eyebrow, but the eye itself twitched under her mouth before she pulled back.

His good eye looked bright. "You're not pretending, are you?" He swallowed. "Because I'm not. This whole time, it's been _me_-"

And then he couldn't talk any more, because she was busy finishing what she'd started. And he was _hmmm_-ing deep in his throat and he was softer and more slippery than she'd expected, delicate, gentle, uncertain where his hands weren't – they had pulled her up and over onto his lap. She squeaked a little at that and then he was more like the Zuko she knew: his teeth came out, and he had her lower lip between them, and he was sucking on it.

Which made her shaky enough in the knees to sort of flatten out across him with her elbows on either side of him – he practically purred, and kissed her along the hairline between his words. "Thought I was _losing my mind_," he muttered, with his lips in her hair and trailing down to her ear. "You don't know how many times… You have _no idea…_"

She wanted to say something about that – she wanted to ask him what he meant – but then his mouth found her neck and that made framing a question difficult. He sat up and yanked her up and into his lap again. He pulled her hair aside with one hand and made little methodical kisses from her ear down to her collarbone. His breath tickled, and then she laughed, and then he was laughing too and hugging her and burying his head between her head and her neck and rocking slowly to and fro. They stayed like that a minute, her knees cramping slightly and her hands climbing into his hair and across his shoulders, until he pulled back with a huge smile and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She surprised herself by nodding yes. "Um, a little bit more dizzy than before, though."

"Let's lie down, then."

She stiffened. "Uh…how did you, um…" Her thoughts crashed together like one of Toph's rock formations. "I mean, uh, under the covers?"

"Whatever you like," he said.

"On top of them," she said. "Not under them." It was suddenly very important to her that she be _on_ the bed and not _in _it, for some reason.

He was easing back down. Katara looked from side to side. Where was she supposed to put her head? Did she take one of the pillows for herself, or share his? How did this go? She glanced at him quickly and he was staring at her with unabashed joy all over his face, which somehow made her even shyer. Her face burned and she curled up on her side, facing away from him, with her heart thudding. _You just kissed Zuko. You just kissed Zuko. The guy who chased you across the world and bent fire at you and joined Azula. The guy you're marrying._

"Hey," he said, and rolled over. His arm snaked down over hers and he grabbed her hand. He squeezed twice. "Hey." He squeezed twice again. Their code – she remembered it, now – for whether his advance was welcome. She squeezed back once, hard, and he relaxed. He molded himself around her, sighing. He was like a wall of heat, like pressing her back up against sun-warmed bricks. He kissed her bare shoulder and linked their hands before settling his head on the pillow behind hers. But then he said "Hey," and slid his left arm under her neck so she saw the length of it, so pale she saw his veins before they vanished under the binding of her mother's necklace, along the track of her vision.

"I'm sorry," she said, before she could stop herself. "I sort of wussed out, there."

"It's not a competition," he said, and she liked the vibration of his voice at her shoulders. "You do what you want." He paused, then propped himself up suddenly. "You did want-"

"Oh. Yeah. I did." She covered her face with one hand. "I just said that out loud. Wow."

He lifted her hand away from her face and kissed her knuckles before lying down and replacing his arm across her ribs. "That's good."

"I just…I didn't know I was going to want…you know."

"Surprised me, too."

She frowned. "What did you mean, before?"

"When?"

"When you said you were losing your mind."

He traced the lengths of her fingers with one of his. "I'm kind of bad at being good," he said. "I get distracted. Sometimes you're really distracting."

Her frown deepened. "I'm a distraction?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean…" His hand closed over hers. "I mean, sometimes I can only think of one thing at a time. And I can't stop thinking about it. I try and I try and I can't stop. And a lot of the time when that happens I'm thinking about you." He cleared his throat. "But that's good, though, because if I weren't thinking about you, I'd probably be thinking about the mess we're in."

"You're a real sweet talker, you know that?"

He buried his head in her hair. "There's no pleasing you."

She giggled. "I'm a tyrant."

He laughed a little bit. "I really liked it when you made it snow, today," he said. "It was really pretty." He edged up a bit closer. "You, um, you looked really good."

"Like a trophy of incomparable value?" she asked, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into her voice.

"Like you belonged there," Zuko said. "But you always look royal when you're bending."

Katara rolled over so they faced each other. "I do?"

"Mmm."

"Oh. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Katara tried to think of something nice to say in return. "I like you without your armor on." She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I mean, um…" She swallowed. "I mean, the armor is sort of pointy and it hurt when I hugged it. I mean you! I mean you wearing it-"

"I thought you said I looked smaller," Zuko said. "You said I looked smaller without my armor on."

"…I did?"

"You were a little drunk at the time."

"Oh. Right."

"You were really cute, too. And you kept touching me."

"_Oh."_

"But you're right, I've lost some muscle. I used to be bigger. But then the siege happened, and we were on a raft, and we didn't have much to eat, and then we were poor until Ba Sing Se." He traced her ear with one finger. "I'm still strong, though."

"I know."

"I can still take care of things. You. Us."

She smiled. "I know you can."

"Good," he said, and then he was kissing her. It was deeper this time, and he held her face with one hand so that his palm covered her ear and she heard the sound of her blood marching in her veins. She used his hip for leverage to wriggle up closer; he laughed against her mouth and grabbed her behind the knee, pinned it between his legs. She yelped and grabbed him to regain her balance, but he jerked and she pulled her hands away.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, you just tickled me," he said, and kissed her quickly before laying her hand flat on his ribs. "There. You can hold onto me all you want."

"…You're ticklish?"

His good eye narrowed. "Don't get any ideas."

She grinned. "Who, me?" Her fingers raced up his back, and he thrashed under her and grabbed clumsily for her hands. He was faster than she was, and took hold of both her wrists, twisting up and pinning them beside her head on the pillows. He breathed hard and she saw his pulse jumping just above his collarbone.

"This is a bad sign," he said.

"How come?"

"I'm happy," Zuko said, loosening his grip. He chewed his lip. "That usually means something terrible is about to happen."

She tried catching his eye. "You're happy?"

He grinned. "Yes. Very happy." He ran a finger along her necklace. "It doesn't happen very often."

"Then I guess you should make the most of it." She tugged at his shoulders and he beamed, came down over her and settled his weight on her. It was unexpectedly pleasant; she expected him to crush her but he didn't. Instead he propped himself on his elbows and stared down at her for a moment, smiling. Then he kissed down her neck to her chest, to the place where the fabric criss-crossed. He gave her an inscrutable look before continuing down to her belly. She arched up at that – it was just her stomach; how could it feel that good? -- and he gave her skin an affectionate, Momo-like nuzzle with the rough side of his face.

"I love this uniform," he said.

Katara's hand tangled in his hair. "You don't say."

He laid his head across her stomach. "You really didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?"

"Everything," Zuko said. "I gave myself away a hundred times. I'm sure of it."

"I thought you only liked Fire Nation girls," Katara said. "Plus, I do a really good job of annoying you."

"And I thought Toph was the blind one," Zuko said. "I suppose I should have expected it, after Aang."

Katara stiffened. Zuko winced, as though he had just tasted something foul. He sat up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…you know."

"He was so angry with me," Katara said. "He thinks we betrayed him. He thinks _I_ betrayed him. And now…"

"I know," Zuko said heavily. "He still loves you." He swallowed. "What do we tell him?"

Katara shook her head. "I don't know." For a moment all she could see was Aang's face, accusing and hurt. "I don't even want to think about it, right now."

Zuko began slowly stroking a pattern across her stomach with one light finger. Despite herself, she found goosebumps popping up on her arms and legs, and something hot and tight coiling up under that touch – like he was tying a knot inside her, and not simply signing his own name. "I think we can take your mind off things," Zuko said. "Does that sound good?"

Katara managed a weak "uh-huh," before he was kissing her again, and that was all she thought about for quite some time.

In the end, though, she had to return to her own room when sleep started getting the better of her. She hadn't thought that just kissing someone could make her so tired, although she was convinced that her heart racing for such prolonged periods probably had something to do with it. For someone so gentle, Zuko was awfully creative – there was a lot of her that her uniform left uncovered, and he seemed intent on covering all of it with his mouth at least once. He chose odd places: the inside of her wrists, the backs of her knees, even her instep. And sometimes it tickled and sometimes it was astonishingly good and sometimes it was even better than that, especially when his tongue flicked out or his teeth gave her a little nip. He had to tell her to keep quiet once, but he was smiling with such obvious pride at the time that she couldn't help but tug him back up to hug her. He was good at hugging, too, and she almost fell asleep right on his chest until she startled herself awake with fuzzy-headed panic about drooling all over him.

"Um, your spit's kind of been in my mouth already," he had said, and pulled her head back down under his chin. She woke up there to the feel of him tracing her left ear, at which point he said it was time she went to her own room, otherwise they would be in even more trouble.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be too good if Azula found us," Katara said, yawning.

"Azula," Zuko said, blinking. "Right."

Katara's eyes narrowed. "You were just thinking something that would make my dad really angry, weren't you?"

"Probably," Zuko said. "How does your dad feel about grandchildren?"

Katara reached over and slapped his arm, then hopped off the bed and made for the door. She crossed her arms and tapped one foot. "Well? Aren't you going to open it for me?"

Rolling his eyes, Zuko slid the door up and held it open. He followed her through the passage, and opened her door for her on the other side. "Kiss me goodnight," Katara said, on impulse.

He smiled and took hold of her face. "I was going to do that anyway," he said, and did so. She had to stand on her tiptoes to get the full value of it, and when she rocked on them he steadied her with warm fingers on her hips. Making a frustrated sound, he pulled away. "We need to be in bed, now," he said.

Her eyebrows shot up. "We do?"

"I meant separately," he said, blushing, and Katara remembered him looming over her that night in the infirmary, and how she scared she had been. It was nice, not being scared any more. It was nice knowing he was one of the few people here that she didn't have to fear.

"Why don't I believe you?" Katara asked, smiling.

"You'll be the death of me," he said, and kissed her forehead. "Go to bed."

And she did. But she didn't sleep right away. Instead, she pulled the sheet over her head and giggled until her stomach hurt.

* * *

The next day, a seamstress arrived with a stack of old dress robes and two assistants. "We can tailor one of these to fit you for your wedding," she explained, as the two younger girls took her measurements. She didn't look directly at Katara. "Just pick one you like."

"Um…do you have anything that doesn't have that big heavy collar?"

The seamstress' sparse eyebrow twitched, and so did the hog-chicken wattle at her throat. "No," she said in an offended tone. "I made those collars myself, and I happen to like them."

Katara winced. "Well, do you have anything in blue?"

Now the seamstress looked positively apoplectic. "Certainly not," she said. "This is the Fire Nation. We do not wear _blue_."

"What about white?" Katara asked.

The two assistants gasped. The seamstress paled. "White is a _mourning_ color, young lady, and I am offended that you would even suggest it."

Katara gulped. "I'm sorry! I didn't know. I just thought that you could do more of a custom design. Zuko's mom got to have a golden robe."

The seamstress gave her a sharp look. "How did you know that?"

Panic flooded Katara's veins. "Zuko told me," she said in a voice she hoped wasn't too small or incriminating. _Of course you're not supposed to know about that! Why not just tell them you've been to the vault, Katara?_ "He mentioned it when he proposed," she said, thinking quickly, "because I think this necklace used to be hers." She pointed at the sky opal pendant on its string of tiny pearls.

The seamstress' gaze flicked to the pendant. "Yes," she said abruptly. "It is an antique – a relic of the Air Nomads. It has been in the family for generations. General Iroh gave it to Princess Ursa as a present when she announced she was carrying Prince Zuko."

Katara blinked and looked down at the pendant. Examining the iridescent glitter, she tried to imagine General Iroh as a younger man. How had he presented the gift? Had he told Zuko's mother to close her eyes? "Did she wear it very often?"

The seamstress sniffed. "I had not yet been promoted at that time, and did not often deal with the Princess directly," she said. "Sky opals are priceless and delicate. I doubt she would have worn it often."

Katara nodded. "I see." She looked at the robes lying across her bed, and the ones down in the vault with their magnificent headdress. She remembered her excitement at obtaining that first silk robe – how she liked the slip of it, the lightness of it in the summer heat and the way its colors made her skin look like rare spices. Her Painted Lady costume had been so heavy in comparison, so bulky and awkward – it was a miracle she'd been able to move with anything like grace in it. And yet she had loved it. "What do you know about the Painted Lady?" she asked.

"I know she's a legend among peasants," the seamstress said. "And I know that you insisted on tarting yourself up in her clothes."

Katara's lips formed a line. "The Painted Lady is a hero of the Fire Nation," she said. "It was an honor just to pretend to be her for a little while. And on my wedding day, I want the people of this country to know that I plan on doing everything I can to be the hero they need." She pointed at the traditional robes. "I don't want heavy collars and I don't want emblems and I don't want somebody else's clothes. I'm not a normal princess, and I don't want a normal dress. So make me something different, if you're up to the challenge."

A low chuckle sounded from the door. Azula stood with a scroll in her hands. She leaned against the doorframe. "Oh, Katara," she said. "We may just make royalty of you, yet."

Katara set her teeth. "What do you want?"

"Just to check on your progress," Azula said. Her eyes narrowed. "The guards have been very informative. You and Zuko are coming along nicely, they say. I'm beginning to wonder if you even have need of this." She waved the scroll.

"What is it?"

"Oh, just a little present from Master Piandao," Azula said. "It seems he's heard of your betrothal. And he sent a disgusting little gift as a token of his congratulations."

Azula tossed the scroll in Katara's direction. Katara fumbled it a bit, but eventually straightened it and read the title. "_The Consummate Wife_?" she asked. "Huh?"

"It's a rather ancient piece of doggerel," Azula said. "Read the inscription."

Frowning, Katara unrolled the scroll. She peered at the hand-written note. _"Please accept this scroll with Master Piandao's compliments, in the hopes that the new Princess Katara will be a more obedient wife than she was a prisoner."_

"It seems you took the old man's fancy," Azula said, with a curl to her lip. "Unroll it."

Katara did. And she promptly discovered a print of two people – a man and a woman – rolling all over each other. Instantly, she rolled it shut. Her face throbbed. Azula was smirking at her. "So," Zuko's sister said, "it seems you're more virtuous than we all thought."

Katara sighed through her teeth. "This is a present for _me_, Azula," she said. "If you want to learn some new tricks, I suggest you get a man of your own."

Katara reached up and blocked Azula's forearm before the other girl could slap her. They held one another's eyes for a moment. "You know, I don't remember Princess _Yue_ ever hitting people, especially in front of her servants," Katara said.

"You _are_ my servant," Azula hissed. "Don't forget your place, Katara. Zuko's name is still dirt around here, and being his wife means you're nothing better than _hired help._"

Katara heard a faint rustling and lifted her eyes. There in the door stood Mai and Wai Lee. She lowered her arm and turned toward them. "Are you listening, Mai? If _you_ had married Zuko, you could have been Azula's servant, too!" She smiled. "At least, even more so than you are already."

Silence. Even the seamstress and her assistants refused to move. Finally, Wai Lee stepped forward. She carried a basket on one arm. "You're not being very nice, Katara," she said. She still sounded eerily similar to Ty Lee. "We're Azula's friends. She loves us."

Beside her, Mai snorted just a little. Wai Lee gave her a nervous glance from the corner of her eye, and stepped forward. "But we'd like it if you were our friend, too. So I bought you this candy!" She held out the basket. "That bundle on the top is for you and Zuko."

Katara took the little pink bundle. "What is it?"

"Explosive Peanut Crackle," Wai Lee said. "Be careful – it really goes boom in your mouth!"

"I'm sure Katara will learn all about that, Ty Lee," Azula said. "You and Master Piandao appear to have shared the same thought."

"Maybe we're soulmates," Wai Lee said. She held one finger to her chin. "It would be a shame, since he's so old, but he is kind of cute-"

"Please be quiet, Ty Lee," Mai said, sighing. "Honestly, what's wrong with you, today? First meat, now soulmates?"

"Meat?" Azula asked. "You ate meat?"

"It smelled really good," Wai Lee said in an uncertain voice.

"But you don't eat meat," Azula said. "You only eat fish."

"That's what I said," Mai said.

Wai Lee did her best to smile. "Well, Sozin's Comet is coming," she said. "I've got to bulk up for the battle!" She held up her arm and flexed it. "Meat builds muscle!"

Katara tried to gather her composure. Clearly, Wai Lee had made a grave error about her sister's character, and now both Mai and Azula had picked up on it. But so far she was covering pretty well. "I'm sure the three of you can have this conversation elsewhere," she said, hoping to distract them. "I have a wedding to plan."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ty Lee. Let's go."

"One more thing, Katara," Azula said. "Have you considered my offer?"

It took her a moment to understand what Azula meant. "Yes," she said. "Zuko and I discussed it last night."

"Oh, is that what you were doing?" Azula asked.

Katara smiled. "Among other things," she said, and she recognized part of the glow in her face as a perverse sense of pride.

"Lovely," Azula snapped. "And did you come to a decision?"

"Zuko wants to go," Katara said. Best to let Azula think that they were playing along, she decided. "And he can be very persuasive."

Mai turned, and tugged Wai Lee along behind her by the wrist as she marched away. Wai Lee only managed a half-wave before disappearing from view. Katara met Azula's gaze. "You know, for a girl with no instinct for self-preservation, you've survived rather well," Azula said. "We'll see how that serves you at the North Pole." She swept out of the room.

Katara sighed and turned to the seamstress and her assistants. They looked positively mortified, but oddly awestruck – especially the two younger ones. "You're either very brave or very stupid," the seamstress said quietly. "Perhaps a more modern cut of the Painted Lady's gown is right for you, after all." She cleared her throat. "Come along, girls. We have work to do." The old woman stood and made a slow bow in Katara's direction. "By your leave, Princess."

Katara smiled. "You may go," she said, bowing. "Thank you for all of your hard work."

The woman's wrinkled lips twitched up into a smile. "You are very welcome."

Katara saw the women out the door, and was surprised to find Zuko on the other side when they opened it. He was carrying a tray with lunch.

"Let me in," he said, smirking. His good eyebrow lifted. "Don't you want to get it while it's hot?"

Katara's heart skipped. She nodded, and let him through. She closed the door behind him, and was strangely gratified to hear the bolt snap shut on the other side. She sagged against the door and watched Zuko place the tray on the floor. He took notice of the scroll in Katara's hand and tilted his head to read the title. His good eyebrow climbed even higher on his head.

"It's not what you think," she said.

"Oh?" He closed the gap between them. "That's a shame." Then he was kissing her, and pulling the scroll from her grasp. "Not that you need any instructions," he said into her mouth. She heard him throw the scroll onto the floor before he hooked his hands under her knees and lifted her up against the door.

"…Always been a fast learner," she said, though it was hard to breathe.

"Believe me, I know," he said, and then he was carrying her into the room.

"I thought you were hungry," she said into his neck.

"I am," he said, and sat down on the bed so she was on his lap facing him. She suspected she might fall, but his hands went tight on her and secured her in place. "Unfortunately," he said, his lips grazing her ear, "the kitchen had no oysters."

She thought of the old, creaking sign that hung over the Oyster District – the shell open to expose the slippery flesh inside, like a smile, or maybe like something else entirely. She laughed suddenly, finally getting the pun (of _course_ they called it the Oyster District; of _course_ they called it "pearl-diving") but too exhilarated by the tongue and teeth at her neck to feel silly about not having understood before. "Oh, wow," she said, unable to control her giggles. "It's really a miracle my dad didn't kill you."

Zuko fell backward so that she balanced on top of him. "Try not to mention your dad right now." Katara grabbed his wrists and pinned them beside his head. He looked at them and grinned. "Is this payback for the tree?"

"Master Piandao sent us that scroll," she said.

"Crazy old pervert…" Zuko blinked. "Oh. It's probably a message!"

"Well I certainly hope so," Katara said. "Otherwise Master Piandao is in for a nice long swim at the bottom of the harbor."

Zuko sat up and made for the scroll. He placed it on the lunch tray and picked both up, then sat against the pillows. "Come on. We'll read it over lunch."

"If your stomach can handle it," Katara said, wriggling up beside him. She uncovered dishes as Zuko unrolled the scroll. She watched his eyes pop as the first picture came into view.

"Did you-"

"Sure did," Katara said, averting her eyes. "Just find the message, please?"

"Right." Zuko unrolled it further and lit a fire in his palm. He snuffed it out, then continued unrolling the scroll and lighting each section. He paused at one, snorted, and muttered, "That's just impossible," before lighting the fire again. "Where _is_ it?"

"What are you looking for?" Katara asked.

"The last time he sent me a secret message, Uncle Iroh used a special ink that only showed up when the paper got close to flame," Zuko said. "But so far there are only smudges."

Katara leaned over. "Let me see." She wrinkled her nose at the drawing (could human limbs really bend that way?) before staring into the light Zuko had produced. There on the page, within a chapter titled "The Communicative Helpmeet," were the words "stretch" and "talking" smeared with red ink. She grinned.

"That's not a smudge, it's the message," she said. She pointed. "See? The whole sentence says _Stretch out opportunities for talking; they make your husband feel important and unique._ But your uncle really put the emphasis on those two words. He means Ty Lee is cooperating!"

Zuko smiled and kissed her cheek. "Let's look for more." He looped one arm about her shoulders and they proceeded to laugh at the increasing unlikelihood of each consecutive drawing while searching for clues. They found only a few more, however, each underlining words that could be roughly cobbled together into sentences: _stretch talking, refrain from sweets, family healthy, wait and listen._ Then, at the end of the scroll, where the author congratulated the reader on improving her marriage, someone had underlined the characters for _congratulations_ in the special red ink several times.

"Refrain from sweets?" Zuko asked.

Katara peered at the bundle of candies Wai Lee had brought. "Wai Lee brought us explosive peanut crackle today…"

"_Explosive peanut_ crackle?" Zuko asked. He slid off the bed and picked up the bundle. He hastily untied it, then peered at the nuggety little candies, holding one up for inspection. He sniffed it, winced, and put it back. He sat down again. "Don't eat those. Teo and The Duke have been busy."

"They're little _bombs_?"

"Well, they smell like blasting jelly," he said. "We should bring some with us, tonight."

"You plan on blowing something up?" Katara asked.

"I thought you might have missed it," Zuko said.

Katara pondered. "It has been a while since I made something explode…"

"Not that long," Zuko said.

"Huh?"

"Tell me about your wedding robes. What are they like?" He picked up a coconut riceball and began munching it.

Katara smiled. "I'm not sure. I told the seamstress that I wanted something like the Painted Lady's robes."

His eyes flicked to her shoulders. "That's an awful lot of fabric."

"She's doing something a little different," Katara said. "I told her I knew about your mother's dress."

Zuko blinked. "You did?"

Katara winced. "I kind of slipped up." She fingered the pendant at her throat. "Did you know that your uncle gave this to your mom when she announced she was carrying you?"

Zuko frowned. "No. I had no idea."

Katara pursed her lips. "Um…maybe it's not my business, but have you ever thought that maybe-"

"Yes," Zuko said. "I used to hope for it. A lot."

"And now?"

"Now it doesn't matter," Zuko said. "He's been more of a father to me than Ozai ever has." He plucked the air with his fingers. "Come here."

Katara leaned over, and he pulled her head to his chest. He set his chin atop her head. "Ozai came to see me today."

Katara froze. "He did?"

"Yes. He gave me his version of the North Pole offer." She heard him swallowing. "We have to take it."

"I know," she said. "I told Azula you had convinced me."

"Well, thank the sages for that," Zuko said. "Because I told him I had, too."

She laughed. "What else did he say?"

"Nothing he hasn't said before. I'm useless and weak and disappointing. He should have just killed me _and_ Fire Lord Azulon, and saved himself the trouble. That kind of thing." His fingers played with her hair. "I'm supposed to send my kids back here before they're twelve. For training. He'll only let us go if we agree to that."

"Your kids?" Katara asked.

"You know, any, uh, children springing from our, um…union." Zuko shifted a little. "Not that I'd ever do that. Send them, I mean. It doesn't matter, anyway. We're going to destroy him. And he doesn't know how young you are, remember? And it's not like I want kids."

"…You don't?" Katara failed to see what choice he had in the matter – although with bloodbending…

"I'm not sure I want the line to continue," he said, interrupting her train of thought.

Katara pinched him. "It's your uncle's line too, you know. And you're only half of the equation. Maybe their mom will balance them out."

"But then she would have to be my opposite in every way," Zuko said. He coiled a length of her hair around one finger. "You know, like winter to summer. Rain and sunshine. Hot and cold. Fire and w-"

"Oh, be quiet," Katara said, and covered his mouth.

* * *

That night, she came to his room and found him in his dark clothes already. He held out a folded bundle to her. "I stuffed them up between the walls when you left," he said. "You should shake them out, in case of spiders."

Katara shuddered and shook out her clothes before stepping into the bathroom and changing them. She emerged to find Zuko waiting for her with a smile on his face. "You ready?"

She nodded. Zuko pushed the little bundle of explosives down inside his tunic. He leaned over and kissed her, but pushed her away when she got up close. "Careful," he said. "You don't want to set me off."

"Is a kiss all it takes?"

He gave her a half-scandalized, half-pleased look, and opened the door. "Let's go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back."

They didn't say much on the way down the ladder or through the tunnels leading to the bunker. Those tunnels were quiet places, and completely dark – Katara accidentally stepped on the desiccated remains of someone's lunch, a little hog-chicken carcass whose bones had gone dry and splintery. Zuko held her hand after that, but he continued leading the way until they reached a door that felt warm to the touch. Zuko turned to her and held up the fire in his palm.

"You have to stay close to me for this part."

She squeezed his hand. "I'm already close to you."

"I mean _really_ close," he said, and bent fire into a hole in the door. It groaned open, and he pulled them through. The heat hit them like a wall. Katara saw black, clinging stalagtites and an even darker tunnel. "Almost there," Zuko said.

They walked through the tunnel – it seemed ancient; Katara saw patterns that looked like the first firebenders had chiselled them in the stone – until they reached a broad, flat plain dotted with glowing pools of lava. Zuko took a single cautious step onto the plain, and the nearest pool of lava shot up and he broke their contact to bend it back in a wave.

"Hey," Katara said. "That's _my_ move."

"I learned from the best," he said. "Stay with me."

Beside her, a second pool of lava erupted. Katara twisted steam free of the air, and froze it around the molten heat. "Like that?"

He grinned. "Have I told you you're amazing?"

"Not today," Katara said loftily, and pushed forward.

They marched across the plain, bending the lava down, away, or simply freezing it in place for a minute before continuing on. Katara made her water leap from spot to spot, while Zuko had to either hold the lava down or bend it elsewhere in a way that minimized splashing. They ducked and wove around the heat, arms in the air. Katara had missed bending. Sneaking around was fun (especially when it involved kissing) but she was a master waterbender. This was her element. Finally they arrived at an arrow-shaped wedge of rock above a hissing lake of lava.

"Okay," Katara said. "This is overkill."

Zuko lifted his arms. "Stand back." She moved and he lunged forward, raising his arms even higher. The lava parted and rolled back on itself, exposing a road of scorched earth beneath. For a moment he looked almost like what she had once imagined a Fire Lord to be: powerful, silent, tireless. "Jump," he said. "I can't keep holding it."

Sweat trickled down into Katara's eye. She nodded, and hopped down from the little cliff to the ground below. Zuko jumped down beside her. He took the point position in front of her, slowly bending the lava away from them as they walked forward. "I did this with water, once," Katara said. "We could see the fish inside the waves."

"Keep talking," he said, as they inched forward. She smelled the sweat coming off him and saw it beading on his wrists.

"About what?"

"Cold things."

Katara bent sweat from her forehead. "When my dad was growing up, his best friend Bato fell off the boat during their ice-dodging test. My dad had to jump in and save him."

"Ice-dodging?"

"Like what we did with the lava just now. Only with ice. And in a boat."

"So, not like the lava at all?"

"No, not really. It's a test of manhood."

"…Your dad jumped in?"

"Yeah, and he said it was so cold his coat froze to his body. And then he and Bato had to go to a polar seal nest and lie down with the seals just to get warm."

"I followed the seals," Zuko said. His arms were shaking. "I saw where they were going, at the North Pole, and I followed their tunnel up into the city."

"That was really smart," Katara said.

Finally they passed through the lake. Zuko reached behind him and pushed her forward, up to a flat, ashen piece of rock before a massive steel structure that looked like a hive. At the bottom was a door, with deep grooves inside. They stumbled forward and put their hands to the door. "What happened here?" Zuko asked.

"Toph," Katara said, running a finger over the grooves.

Zuko smiled and wiped sweat away. "Let's go."

* * *

Once they were through the doors, Zuko continued leading the way. He seemed to know his way around, and Katara wondered just how long he had spent in the bunker in the time surrounding the eclipse. They crept through tunnels lined with steel pipes, and past more solid-looking steel doors. Most of the doors required fire-bending. At one turn Zuko sucked his breath in and hugged her up against a wall, while two men in Fire Nation uniforms marched past: "I heard he lost his fingers to one of his inventions." "Crazy old man."

Katara pursed her lips and looked into Zuko's scowling face. "They're talking about the Mechanist," she whispered. "He's missing some fingers."

Zuko nodded. He leaned out to look down the hall both ways. "I thought he might be down here."

"Why?"

"Down here is the only place where they still have rooms with shackles."

He grabbed her hand and started running. They hustled down the hall to escape the laughter of approaching guards. Katara saw a man startle awake as they pounded down the hall and then her hands were up and before he could turn she had pinched the blood inside him; he fell to the floor in a heap. Zuko jumped over him and blasted fire up a small pipe near the door. It opened and they stumbled through.

The Mechanist sat at a broad desk surrounded by scrolls, inkpots, and hanging, half-completed designs. He turned slowly on his stool to look at them, and his heavy iron chains scraped across the wood as he did so. He had lost some weight, and his hair looked even more wild and woolly. He stared at them through eyes now deeper-set than she remembered, without their usual conspiratorial twinkle, and said after a moment: "Ah. I wondered who they might send."

"Where is the weapon?" Zuko asked.

The Mechanist blinked. His pained gaze moved slowly to Katara. "I'm so very sorry," he said.

Her hands balled into fists. "We know it's headed for the South Pole already. Tell us where else it's going, and tell us how to stop it."

"And how it takes away a person's bending," Zuko said.

Something behind the Mechanist's eyes kindled. His chains rattling, he reached over to the desk and moved some papers. From under them, he produced a long steel tube worked in the shape of a dragon, with a wooden handle. Katara recognized it from Lieutenant Jee's memories of the weapons test. The tube ended in the dragon's mouth, and near its hind paws was an extra "coil" of scaled "flesh." He pushed this coil back and then out, exposing a hidden chamber full of the tiny urchin-shaped metal balls. He pulled one free and showed them.

"Ozai has one of those," Zuko said. "But it was gold."

"Yes, that was a model," the Mechanist said. "The Fire Lord wanted something…special."

"But what does it do?" Katara asked.

The Mechanist pressed the ball so that its spikes retracted. Then he let them go again. "When this little ball enters a person's body, it explodes," he said. "These tiny spikes spread through the muscle and bone. Those little fragments block the flow of chi in a bender's body. But they're an effective weapon against non-benders, too, of course – this firebreather can stop a man in his tracks!"

"I know," Katara said. "I've seen it."

"How does it shoot them?" Zuko asked. "Those balls are metal. They don't just wind up in someone's body on their own."

"Spark-powder," the Mechanist said, gesturing to an urn that looked suspiciously similar to the ones Katara and Zuko had encountered inside the palace vault. He uncapped the lid and sure enough, there were the curiously black "ashes" that Zuko had seen.

"We were so close," Zuko said, as though he had read her thoughts. "It was all right there in front of us."

"The spark powder gets loaded into this compartment," the Mechanist said, unfolding a secondary chamber within the weapon, "and all a firebender has to do is light it with his own bending. Of course it's very explosive and dangerous – that's why I asked for non-benders to do the labor. I didn't want anyone getting hurt."

"You didn't want anyone getting _hurt?_" Katara's voice shook. She pointed to the weapon. "Do you have any _idea_ what that weapon does to people? It rips them apart! It takes away their bending!"

"There are plenty of people in this world who have done perfectly well without bending," the Mechanist said, with a touch of frost in his voice. "Your brother is one of them, and so am I."

"You did well by _collaborating_," Zuko said. "You would have been _nothing_ without Fire Nation support."

"And what would you have been, if you weren't the Fire Prince?" the Mechanist asked.

Zuko's jaw set. "I would have been _free._"

"Well," the Mechanist said, looking at the floor. "We all make choices."

"And you chose to unleash this abomination on the world," Katara said. "Did you even think about the people whose lives you would be destroying?"

"Did you think about the men and women in my war balloons, when you sliced them down out of the air?" the Mechanist asked. "Or were you simply thinking about your brother and your father and the Avatar?"

Something stung Katara's eyes. Her skin chilled. "What did they offer you? Did they tell you that they would protect Teo, if they found him?"

"They told me I could live," the Mechanist said. He examined his wooden fingers. "They said the pain would stop." He lifted his eyes. "They were killing me."

"You should have let them," Zuko said.

There was nothing to say, after that. Katara's mouth tried to make the words: _Calm down, be nice, try to understand._ But they wouldn't come. She thought about the weapon and Lieutenant Jee and this mission and her people and their bending dying, and how it all could have been stopped if the man before them had been just a little stronger. And she thought about Zuko and the beating he'd taken for her and the beatings he'd taken from life and how much strength it must have taken to stand up to the man who had given him the face he wore now. And she thought of her father and Suki and Iroh and Haru and the people on the prison ship and the way they had risen up.

"How can we stop the weapon?" she asked.

"You can sabotage the factory downstairs, or sabotage the shipment that leaves tonight," the old man said. "Or you can tell your compatriots to wear metal armor."

"What about walls of ice or stone?" Zuko asked.

"Stone, perhaps. But the ice won't hold unless it's glacier-thick."

Katara willed herself not to cry. There would be time enough for that later, when she had actually formulated a plan about what to tell the others. "Fine," she said. She turned to Zuko. "Let's go."

"Give us a copy of the plans," Zuko said.

The Mechanist nodded, plucked at some papers, and rolled them up tight. He handed them to Zuko, and he handed them to Katara. For a moment, all three stared at each other. "Good luck," the Mechanist said. "Tell Teo…" He shrugged. "Tell him something good."

Katara looked between them. Zuko was swallowing and taking a hesitant breath. "You're going to break if they ask you who's been sabotaging the shipments, aren't you?"

The Mechanist licked his cracked lips. "Yes. I probably will, if they spend enough time asking me."

Zuko nodded. "I'm sorry," he said.

"We all make choices," the Mechanist repeated. "When you are Fire Lord, that much won't change."

"I know," Zuko said. He took Katara's hand. "Come on."

"Goodbye," Katara said.

Cautiously, Zuko opened the door. Snores greeted them; the guard she had put to sleep had rolled over. Carefully, they tiptoed over him. "Turn around," Zuko said.

She frowned. "What? Why-"

"Please just do it. For me. Please."

She turned. She heard the rustle of fabric and something being ripped open, and a frustrated grunt. Then Zuko had her hand again and they were dashing down the hall. Behind her, she heard the guard roll over, cough, and take a loud, yawning breath.

Then there was a boom, and the sound of Teo's new explosives blowing up his father's laboratory.

* * *

**One more heist, one last big score...**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Paramount, Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: I apologize that this took so long. I didn't mean for it to, but then I kept getting distracted by real life and by the mistakes I'd made while writing, and I had to go back and correct them…**

**Thanks: To everyone who provided me with fresh art – Kungpow333, Supersonic-Gabi, Tempest-in-Blue, Drisela, Irrel, HeavenlyMaron…I'm just so lucky to have so many people who are eager to participate in this with me. You guys are the ones who have made SB the success that it is, and I'm very grateful.**

* * *

."I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere." **-Thomas Jefferson**

* * *

_Zuko killed the Mechanist. Zuko killed Teo's dad. Zuko killed someone._

Zuko held her hand as they ran down the hall. The sound of stomping feet followed. She heard shouting. Alarms began ringing – she heard the harsh clang of bells. Zuko tugged her along and blasted fire through a door. It began sliding open and he squeezed them through. Now they were on a steel causeway. Zuko stopped short and she bumped into him. Between her feet and through the grate, she saw the factory: boiling ceramic pots of metal, prisoners in threadbare clothes, and men hammering out tubes of steel or gold. The heat was beyond intolerable, and so was the noise – the people here would have been better off in the tower.

"Hey!"

She looked up. Two guards had entered the causeway from the other side. Now they were pointing at Katara and Zuko. Zuko slid himself between her and them, and their faces registered surprise. Fire blossomed from their fists. _"Traitor! Traitor! Alert the Dai-"_

Both men fell in a heap. Arrows protruded from their backs. Two shapes fell from the pipes above. One of them carried a roughly-made bow. The other put her foot on the body of a guard.

"Fancy meeting you here," Smellerbee said.

"Oh thank the sages," Zuko murmured. He peered down into the factory before striding across the causeway.

Katara followed. "What are you two doing here?"

"Uh, you sort of got us put in prison," Smellerbee said. "Jun? The bounty? Remember?"

Katara winced. "Well, are you okay?"

Smellerbee scowled. "I'd be a lot more okay if someone hadn't decided to blow up the lab and send guards crawling everywhere." She jerked her head over her shoulder. "Let's go."

Behind them, the door was beginning to wedge open again. Zuko nodded and they followed. They all ran across the causeway, then turned right. The path immediately began sloping uphill. "Where are we going?"

"Escape route," Smellerbee said.

"But there aren't any escape routes," Zuko said, as they approached another set of doors.

Smellerbee snorted. "Shows how much you know." She paused beside a rock, and began prying it loose. Longshot knelt and helped her, and in no time they had rolled aside the stone. Smellerbee pointed into the dark crevice left behind. "Get in."

Katara looked to Zuko. He was looking at her. She shrugged, and he nodded. They got in. Inside, they found a very narrow rock face, and a hint of starlight at the top and a dull orange glow below. "A vent," Zuko said.

"Score one for His Royal Genius," Smellerbee said. "Start climbing, already."

They climbed. The rock was hot, but Katara tried not to think of her burning fingers. She struggled to find handholds in the dark. Her arms ached and she had to grit her teeth to keep moving. Having Smellerbee directly below her grunting her frustration and annoyance helped. Finally they emerged on the shadowed side of the volcano, with the city behind them and the harbor below. Zuko helped her out, then extended his hand to Smellerbee. The girl merely shook her head and vaulted herself free on her own. Then all four were standing together, covered in dirt and soot and sweat. Longshot's bow now looked a little bent, and not in a good way.

"So," Katara said. "It's good to know you're alive."

"It's good to know whose side you're on," Smellerbee said.

"They'll think you did it," Zuko said. "They'll think you blew up the lab, now that you've escaped."

"It's okay," Smellerbee said, scratching her head. "We've done a ton of things in that place that they don't know about."

"Like what?" Katara asked.

"Oh, the usual. Sneaking food, jamming the locks, changing the measurements in the alloy mixture…" Even in the dark, Katara could see Smellerbee's eyes twinkling. "Took them a while to figure that one out."

"You sabotaged the weapons?"

Smellerbee grinned. "Sure did. Those things'll melt after three shots." She winced. "We only managed it on the most recent shipment, though. They tightened up security by the time we started working on the ones bound for the Earth Kindgom."

Katara blinked. "Are you saying that the ones headed for the South Pole are-"

"Junk," Smellerbee said. She grunted in surprise as Katara threw her arms around her, then awkwardly patted Katara's shoulder. "Relax, it was no big deal, we just made sure they added too much copper…"

"It was brilliant," Zuko said. "You risked a lot."

Smellerbee pulled away. "Yeah, well, we're risking a lot more just standing here. And so are you. Where to next?"

Katara and Zuko glanced at each other. "We have to destroy the shipment headed for the Earth Kingdom," Katara said.

Smellerbee rolled her eyes. "Good luck. Those things are locked up tight."

"I know Navy vessels," Zuko said.

"And so do I," Katara said. "I lived on one for a while." She turned to him. "I can do this alone. You should go to the palace. The minute Azula hears something's wrong, she'll suspect us both. You could blame it all on me."

Zuko blinked twice. "I'm going to forget that you just said that."

"No, really, I mean it-"

"We're going to the harbor," Zuko said. "What about you two?"

Smellerbee scratched her eyebrow. "Well, we hadn't exactly planned on escaping just yet, but I guess since we already made it this far…"

Zuko's jaw dropped. "What do you mean you hadn't planned on escaping _just yet?_ What were you doing sneaking around down there?"

Smellerbee shrugged. "Mek-ju shipment arrived this afternoon for the guards. We wanted a drink."

Zuko's palm made loud contact with his forehead. Katara stepped forward. "Well, thank you for your help-"

"What, you don't want us to come along?" Smellerbee asked.

Zuko joined Katara. "No. If you're found with us, it's all over. You've done enough. Get going." He lowered his voice. "There's a man in town that you should see. Piandao. He can help you."

Smellerbee frowned. "Whatever. Like we'll have time for social calls."

"He's on our side. Tell him you know us."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." Smellerbee nodded down at the harbor. "You two better get moving."

Katara nodded. "Thank you. So much."

"All in a day's work," Smellerbee said. She started walking away. "C'mon, Longshot. Let the lovebirds have their space."

Zuko started after her, but Katara grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. Longshot remained standing in place, staring at them. He licked his lips, then stepped forward. "Congratulations," he said in a dull honk of a voice. His eyes slid over to Zuko. "And welcome back to the fight."

* * *

After her time in the palace, running through the night-time harbor city streets was like coming home for Katara. If her heart hadn't already been pumping from the dash down the hill, it would have picked up just from smelling the sea. They avoided the Oyster District, and careened past the abandoned factories instead. They ran along shadows and under pipes until they emerged at the wharf. It was patrolled by guards who seemed to know the importance of their duty – they were awake and alert, staring straight ahead.

"Ideas?" Zuko murmured.

"I can't bend them all," Katara said. "There are too many."

"Then we need a distraction."

Katara surveyed the wharf. All the sailors and fishermen who would have made it a lively place during the day had vanished into their homes or the Oyster District, making the wharf a lonely place where any movement would be immediately noticed. They couldn't disappear into a crowd or even start a brawl between passersby. Aside from the guards, the only people on the wharf were one drunk man and some sleepy komodo rhinos still hitched to their carts. "I've got it," she said. She pointed. "Get inside that cart over there."

Zuko made a displeased noise in his throat. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Just trust me."

"Famous last words," Zuko muttered, and bolted for the cart. He moved low, hugging the shadows. Katara followed. She wasn't as light on her feet as he, but then she didn't have to be – she twisted water free of a nearby plant and snapped it like a goad against the feet of the sleeping rhino. The animal startled awake just as she reached the cart. She cracked the water-whip on its other foot, and the rhino lurched upward, angry and snuffling. Zuko fell back inside the cart and Katara grabbed for it. Then the animal seemed to really wake up, and it charged. Clinging to the cart with one hand, Katara managed to bent water at the animal's right front claw, sending it running left – straight at the guards standing with their backs to the harbor.

Zuko's hand clamped over hers and he yanked her up and over into the cart just as the first shouts and bursts of flame started. He covered her with a blanket and Katara heard the rhino roaring and the drunken man yelling. Then the world flipped over and Zuko braced them against the side of the cart as they met seawater. For a moment she plunged into cool wet darkness, shocked at the cold. She swam up and into the air bubble inside the overturned cart. Zuko was there, treading water. "What a wonderful idea you had," he said, blowing air at his wet bangs.

"At least we're in the water, now," she said. "Come on. Take a deep breath. We have to free the rhino." She started huffing and puffing, taking bigger breaths. "One… two…three!" She dove and felt her way under the cart, hauling herself up in the direction of the thrashing animal. The rhino landed a kick in her stomach, and all the air inside her came out in a flurry of bubbles. She fought her way to the surface. She strained for air. Her stomach felt like a squished dumpling. She looked for Zuko, but saw only the whining, screaming animal in the water and the men above her on the wharf. They were staring into the water, flames held aloft. She tried to duck down and keep herself away from their notice.

Something pulled at her leg, then found her hand, and pulled her in the direction of the dock. She swam along weakly. Beside her, the komodo shook itself and began pumping its legs in the direction of a faltering whistle. The cart sank. From her new position under the dock, she watched bubbles rising where it used to be. Zuko surfaced beside her.

"Are you okay?"

She coughed. Pain sang up her skin. "The rhino kicked me."

Zuko's eyes widened. "What? Where?"

"My stomach. I don't think it was full-strength, but it really hurts."

Zuko swore. Then he was pulling her tunic up. She felt his fingers graze her stomach. Something stung and he paled. He pulled his hand up and even in the dark she saw where his fingers were bloody. "Open your mouth," he said.

"Huh?"

"Just do it!"

Katara opened her mouth. Zuko moved closer and peered inside. He held her face with one hand. "I'm sorry," he said, and closed the gap between them with a kiss. His tongue licked its way past hers, probing, testing. She froze. This kiss didn't feel like the others. He was kissing her like she was a hot spoonful of soup, not a person. He broke away with an audible sucking sound, and swallowed. "Good," he said. "You're not bleeding inside. That's good."

"How would you know?" she asked.

"I'd taste it," he said. "It would come up through your throat." He slid an arm under her legs and shoulders, held her in the water like he was carrying her over something. "That's usually what happens when someone gets kicked by a rhino. They choke on their own blood."

Katara shivered. She looked down at her stomach and pulled her tunic up to survey the damage. Two gashes, one long, one short, had appeared on her skin. Blood leaked up out of them. Her stomach turned. "You can fix it, right?" Zuko asked. His fingers curled tightly around her shoulders and knees. "I mean, it should be nothing for you, you're a master, you fixed Aang-"

"It's okay," she said. "It's okay."

"It's going to scar, Katara, please fix it, heal it now, you're bleeding-"

"I know," she said, and summoned water. She took a deep breath and worked the water over the gashes. She pictured the wound slowly sealing. She saw the water begin to glow. The wounds burned, then went icy, and the water fell away as she lost her breath. Zuko clutched her tight and she sighed, let her head fall back into the water.

"You're all right," he said. "You're good as new." His lips landed on her forehead, her nose, her mouth. They were gentle and warm. "Thank goodness."

His grip changed and she stood upright, toes in the mud, while one of his dripping hands pulled her hair back and he hugged her with the other arm. She hugged him around the shoulders and stood up on her toes, slipped in the mud, but he held her so tight it didn't matter. "Let's get on that ship."

Katara sighed. Thinking of the mission brought her back to herself a little. "Okay." She swallowed. "You know, you really don't have to do this. I meant what I said, before. Azula will suspect us the moment she hears that something's gone wrong. You can go back now and save yourself. I can do this on my own."

He stepped back a little. "Is this because of what I did?" he asked. "If you don't want me-"

"No, that's not it," she said. "I just…I'm scared. For both of us."

Zuko smiled with one corner of his mouth. "I know. Me too. But if you're going to burn for this, then I'm burning with you." He started sloshing toward the ship, then dove. Katara remained standing. After a moment, he turned in the water and said: "Well?"

She pointed at herself. "Hello? Waterbending master?" She raised her arms, palms up, then quickly flipped them down. The water lifted her up and froze at her feet. She winced, but grinned at him. "Get on."

Zuko beamed. A moment later he was behind her, gripping her hips with both hands. "I love the way you think."

Katara lifted her hands. Around them, a thin veil of fog arose. Her tunic was still untucked, and she felt his wet fingers slide across her belly when the fabric pulled up. She narrowed her eyes at the ship. "Let's go blow things up."

Her arms swooped down and they launched across the water, the waves rising like a tongue at their feet, carrying them silently into the misty shadows. They emerged out from under the dock and Katara heard no outcry in their wake. Zuko's fingers clamped across her and she felt him almost slip, then right himself. The ship loomed in the dark. "Hold on," she murmured, and twisted her wrists through the air. The water at her feet spiralled, made a catapult. For a moment she felt weightless – then they landed on the ship. She made a somersault, somehow managing to keep her water aloft. Beside her, Zuko skidded and landed on his back. Katara spun the ribbon of water above her head back into the water as soundlessly as she could. It made barely a splash.

"That was beautiful," Zuko said, just before a large lantern flared to life above them. Katara dashed outside its light, and joined Zuko near a door. The searchlight strobed across the deck for a moment more.

"Thought I heard a splash," someone's voice said high above.

"It's the _harbor._ You heard a _fish._"

Katara pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. The searchlight died, and Zuko opened a door behind them. It opened onto a set of stairs. Immediately, she recognized the layout. "Where should we go?"

"The boiler room," Zuko said.

They crept down the stairs, then made a left. The ship seemed mostly deserted – Katara guessed that the men were off having fun in the Oyster District. She touched the door where, on a different ship, her and Toph's room used to be. Zuko spun open the lock on another door, then peered down a stairwell. "It's clear," he whispered.

They hustled down into the bowels of the ship. Katara hadn't had to do much coal-shoveling on the other ship (Toph did it, especially before Aang woke up) but she still remembered where the massive boiler was. They entered and found a completely black room – Zuko had to light a fire in his palm just so that they could see. The flame exposed the great gaping iron maw of the boiler, and sack upon sack of coal. The room reeked of it.

"Should we just, um, stuff them inside?" Katara asked.

"No," Zuko said. "We mix them in with the coal. That way no one notices until it's too late."

"Won't that hurt the person shovelling the coal?"

Zuko's flame wavered. "Yes." He blinked. "I know this is hard, but it's the only way. If we hide the bombs in with the coal, no one will know something's wrong until it's too late and the weapons have sunk to the bottom of the ocean." He sighed. "I only used one, before, and it was a huge blast. If we put some in with the coal, maybe the rest of the room will blow when the explosion hits the other pieces."

Katara tried imagining the explosion, but all she could think of was the huge sound of the Mechanist's personal laboratory and prison cell blowing to bits. And then all she could see was Teo's face. She stared at the sacks of coal. She knew Zuko was right; they would never have time to dismantle every single weapon. They needed to get back to the palace. Time was wasting. But until this moment she had never truly contemplated what destroying the shipment would mean. And just imagining Fire Navy soldiers, burned and in pain, as they sank slowly to their deaths gave her an icy, crawly feeling all across her arms. But then she thought about Lieutenant Jee, and the way his face rippled with horror at the loss of his bending, and she wondered if anyone the Fire Navy would ever truly wish that on someone else.

Her face rose. "Let's do this."

Nodding, Zuko reached inside his tunic and lifted out the pouch of explosives. It dripped water, and his good eye widened. "This all may have been for nothing. We got them wet. I don't know if they'll still work."

Katara gulped. She lifted her hands and bent water away from the pouch; threw it into the boiler. "We have to try." She held her hand out. "Give me some."

Zuko's good eyebrow lifted, but he handed her a few pieces of the "explosive peanut crackle." She sniffed them – they still smelled a bit sour, not like candy. She set to burying the charges in the sacks of coal. It would be best to dig deep, she decided, and place them at random points. She had no idea which sacks of coal would get used first, or how big the shovel-ful would be. When she glanced up, Zuko was doing the same thing. He gave her an odd half-smile, and it hit her again: _We're blowing up a ship. It's not a deserted factory or a depot that people can evacuate. It's a ship out on the ocean. They'll have nowhere to run._

What Zuko had done to the Mechanist no longer seemed so scary. Some of the men on this ship were probably fathers, too. And she was consigning them to the flames.

* * *

The trip back to the palace lasted longer than she had hoped. First they had to surf their way back to a quiet place on land, and then they had to hurry to the Dragonbone Catacombs, wait for a gap in security, and then high-tail it into the tunnels under Catacombs that led to the palace. By the time they were climbing the ladder back toward their rooms, Katara's limbs ached. Her arms couldn't stop twitching. She thought she might sleep forever.

And then they slid open the secret panel to Zuko's room, and her heart stopped.

Sitting on her bed was Mai. And she looked even less amused than usual. "Hello, Zuko," she said, looking behind Katara. "You have some explaining to do."

Katara looked to the opposite corner of the room. Wai Lee hung there, pinned to the wall with a series of senbon. Zuko stepped around Katara and positioned himself between them. "Mai, try to understand-"

"I _am_ trying, Zuko. I'm trying very hard to understand why you weren't in this room when Azula asked me to look for you. And I'm trying even _harder_ to figure out why I bothered covering for you, when she told me that someone had blown up a secret lab inside the royal bunker." Mai stood. "But I think I've got it, now."

Mai lifted her arm and casually sent senbon whistling through the air. They studded the wall near Wai Lee's face. "You're going to tell me where the _real_ Ty Lee is," she said, "and you're going to tell me _now._ And if you don't, I will personally make sure that Azula burns the two of you to the ground."

"We're not telling you anything," Katara said, pushing forward. She moved for Wai Lee, intending to help bring her down, but Mai grabbed her arm and pinned it behind her back. Katara strained against her grip, but something sharp pressed into her throat and she froze. When she lifted her eyes, she saw Zuko's face draining of color.

"Mai, please don't-"

"Then don't make me," Mai said calmly. "Tell me where Ty Lee is. You switched her after that fight in the Oyster District. Was that your plan all along? Why do you need her? Is she okay?"

Katara blinked. She'd had no idea that Ty Lee meant so much to Mai. She didn't know that people _could_ mean something to Mai. That revelation did nothing to dull the knife at her throat, but she had a strange moment of gladness for Ty Lee – she was missed. "We don't know where she is," she said.

"I wasn't talking to you," Mai said.

"Katara's right, Mai," Zuko said. "We don't know where Ty Lee is. No one told us anything about the switch until it was too late."

The knife pressed into Katara's neck. "Try again," Mai said.

"They're telling the truth!" Wai Lee said. "They don't know! Even I don't know where my sister is!"

Mai whirled. Katara stumbled along with her. "Don't even talk to me about your sister. How could you do this to her?"

"How could you let Azula do this to our people?" Wai Lee asked. "The Fire Nation is going bankrupt. Our soldiers can't come home. And even if the Fire Nation wins on the day of the Comet, it means occupying every corner of the map forever! You've lived in Omashu! You know how hard it is to colonize just one city – how are we supposed to colonize the entire world?"

Goosebumps prickled on Katara's arms. Sure, Wai Lee had gotten caught, and she was a little thick sometimes, and she probably wasn't that good an actress. But she loved the Fire Nation just as much Katara loved the South Pole, and she had risked everything to save it.

"Listen to her, Mai," Zuko was saying. "She's right. I tried to tell you. This war isn't the way."

"Oh, and giving Ty Lee to the Avatar is," Mai spat. "You have no idea what they're doing to her, and you don't even care."

"I believe that she's safe," Zuko said evenly. "I think she's being treated a lot better than I was, when Azula had me locked up."

Mai stiffened. "Azula should have let you burn," she said.

"You don't believe that," Zuko said.

"Don't put words in my mouth, Zuko."

"What about all the things you said to me, before?" Zuko asked. "We were happy, Mai-"

"That was before I knew what you were," Mai said. "You betray everyone you meet, Zuko."

"I'm trying to change that," Zuko said. To Katara's horror, he began sliding to his knees. "You've got my life in your hands, Mai. It's up to you. But if you ever loved me, even for just a minute, then please…"

Something in Mai's posture slackened. Katara waited for the knife to drop. It didn't, but the grip on her arm loosened. And that was all the opening she needed. She elbowed Mai sharply in the stomach, then ducked under her arm. Mai flung the knife at her, but Katara bent the sweat away from her forehead and knocked it away. She lifted her hands and concentrated hard on Mai's throwing arm when it reached for more blades. Mai's face twisted in disbelief as she watched helplessly as her arm stretched out and back. Katara flicked her fingers, and the other arm rose. She bent the blood in Mai's body and Mai straightened, standing on her toes, her eyes wild and her breath rapid.

"What are you doing?" she choked out.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," Katara said, and bent the other girl against the wall. She focused her awareness on the two necessary passages in Mai's throat. She started pinching. "Zuko killed someone, tonight," she said, and hated the water for rising in her eyes. "He did it because that person knew too much. And I have every right to do the same to you."

"Katara, no-"

"I don't want to," Katara said. She blinked and something warm rolled away from her eye. She stared at Mai. "I want there to be another way. I really do. Because I don't think you're a bad person, Mai. I just think you chose the wrong friend." She sniffed. "But I can't let you take that out on us. This war is bigger than you or me or Zuko. And I don't know how to make you see that without really hurting you."

Mai looked away. "Why don't you just do it?" she rasped. "You've got me here. What more do you want?"

Katara squeezed Mai's throat closed. The other girl's eyes widened considerably. "I want you and Wai Lee to leave this room. And then I want you to find your mom and tell her you're going back to Omashu."

Mai's mouth worked mutely. Katara let her throat open a little. _"What?"_

"This city will go up in flames very soon," Katara said. "And I don't want Tom-Tom to be here when that happens."

"We won't chase you," Zuko said. "We'll let you go. We'll tell my uncle. You can have…" He sighed, seemed to look for the right word. "Immunity, I guess."

"I don't need anything from you, Zuko." Her eyes narrowed. "I still want to know where Ty Lee is."

Katara sighed. Trying hard to maintain control of her bending, she used one hand to withdraw the Mechanist's plans from her tunic. She handed them to Wai Lee. "Wai Lee can introduce you to the person she's been meeting with, but only after she hears you convince your mother that you don't want to be here for Zuko's wedding."

"I can make up my own lies."

Katara deftly twisted Mai's throat closed once more. "I'm getting really tired of your attitude," she said. "We're giving you a deal. If you don't want to take it, then you're even more stupid than I thought." She released the other girl's throat and heard her gasp.

"There's nothing left for you here, Mai," Zuko said. "Azula was never really your friend. Ty Lee is gone. If you leave now, you can save yourself."

"Oh, because they'll be so kind to us in Omashu," Mai said.

"They will," Katara said. "Aang is friends with King Bumi. He can make sure that things go easy for you and your family."

Mai sighed. She lifted her eyes to Zuko. "There's really nothing left for me here?"

Zuko rested a hand on Katara's shoulder. "No. There's nothing."

Mai nodded. She looked at Katara. "Let me down."

Katara gently relaxed her grip. Mai slid down to rest on her own two feet. She brushed her skirts smooth with her hands. Her chin rose. She gave Katara a long look. "That's a really special technique," she said.

"Thank you," Katara said, and surprised herself with how proud she felt. "You're pretty scary, yourself."

Mai snorted. She dug in her sleeve and produced a small dagger. Squinting, Katara recognized it as Zuko's old one – the one he used to shave, back at the Western Air Temple. "Azula let me have this," Mai said. "It's got a bad balance for throwing. It's really better for stabbing someone in the back."

"Is that why you think I need it?" Zuko asked.

"No," Mai said. She handed him the knife. "I just don't want anything that belongs to you." She turned away and started plucking the blades from the wall. Wai Lee tumbled down a moment later, and put the Mechanist's plans down one pantleg. "Come on," Mai said to the actress. "Let's go see my mom."

The two girls left the room. Behind her, Katara heard Zuko sink down into the mattress. She turned. He sat on the bed, staring at his knife. He pulled it free of the sheath, and examined the engraving. "Do you know what this says?" he asked.

"I can't remember."

"It says 'never give up without a fight.'"

He looked up, and a single tear leaked away from his good eye. Katara crossed the distance between them. His arms came around her, tugged her in, and he pressed his face against her belly. There was wet heat across her clothes there a moment later. He breathed unsteadily. "I didn't want to do it," he said. "I told myself it was to protect you. And that made it easier. But then, when you said what you said…" He pulled back and stared up at her. "How can you even stand to touch me, right now?"

Katara swallowed. "I don't know," she said. He flinched. She pursed her lips. "I helped you," she said. "I planted those bombs on the ship. I know what's going to happen to those people. And I hate it. But…" Her lips went hot and a lump formed in her throat. "But I saw what they did to Lieutenant Jee, and if they did that to Aang or Toph or you…"

Zuko found her right wrist and kissed the inside of it. He pressed her hand there against his scar, closed his eyes. They stood like that for a long moment. Tentatively, she reached for him and tucked a strand of hair behind his good ear. A sigh shuddered through him and he said very quietly: "I love you."

Her heart flipped over. "What?"

His eyes opened. "I wasn't lying to your dad, before. I love you. I love you more every day." He blinked. "Mai could be betraying us right now. Azula could come in any second. And whatever happens tonight, I need you to know how I feel."

Katara's mouth opened, then shut, then opened again. "I don't know what to say…"

"Just say you'll stay," he said. "Just stay with me, tonight."

She backed away. "Um…"

"Not like that," he said. "Just… Just until I'm asleep." He blinked and his hands lifted, reached for her. "Please don't be scared of me. Not again. Not anymore."

She took a deep breath and brushed tears away from her eyes. "I'm not afraid of you," she said. She mustered a smile. "Come on, you know me better than that."

"I want to," Zuko said. He plucked the air with his fingers. "Come here."

Slowly, she stepped closer. Zuko took her hand and pulled her to sit next to him. He stood up, took hold of her feet, and laid her down. Then he crawled up beside her on the bed. He paused, examining her for a moment, then began pulling up her tunic. Her hands shot down to stop him.

"I just want to see the new skin," he said. "I just want to see what you did."

Katara pulled the tunic up herself. Zuko let his left finger trace the mended places where the komodo rhino had left its mark. Despite herself, she felt her breath catch. Heat followed his touch. He bent down and kissed her belly, and a little thunderbolt sizzled its way through her. Then he lay his face down on her bare skin, scar side down so that she could see his good eye fluttering closed.

"You always know how to fix things," he said.

Katara played with his hair. "If Wai Lee gives the plans to your uncle, does that mean that our mission is over?"

Zuko was silent for a while. "Do you want it to be over?"

She frowned. "Well, don't you? We could get out of here, and we could-"

"You don't want to get married, do you?" Zuko asked. "You wish you could avoid it."

Katara propped herself up. "Of course I do. I want to get married when _I _want to, not when it's convenient to your somebody else's plans."

"So it's not just me you object to," Zuko said heavily.

Her face heated. "I don't _object_ to you, I just…" She tried to think. "I'm just really young, and it's a lot to think about, and I'm not sure I'm ready."

"You're not ready for _me_, you mean," Zuko said.

"_No,"_ she said, scowling. "I didn't say that at all." She crossed her arms. "I'm fourteen years old, Zuko. Excuse me if I don't want to start having babies all over the place."

"Babies?" He sat up. "Who said anything about that?"

"Well, they kind of tend to show up once two people get married, you know." She stuck her nose in the air. "I don't know how much your uncle told you about how things work, but-"

"I got the lecture. Don't remind me."

"Well then, you should know that-"

"I _know_, okay? I know things. And no, I wouldn't want to get started right now, either, but-"

Her head snapped down to look at him. "You've thought about this?"

His face softened. "Of course I have. I wouldn't have even thought of going through with this plan if I hadn't thought that far ahead." He tilted his head. "My uncle always says that I never think things through. But I wouldn't have let you tell Azula that we were together if I didn't like the idea. And I wouldn't have asked you to do this if I wasn't ready to see it through."

Katara blinked. "But you said we could get a divorce."

"And we still can. But I still plan on giving you everything you're entitled to, if that happens. I'm not going to cheat you out of what you're due."

"What I'm due?"

He almost laughed, then looked at her a little ruefully. "Katara, there's going to be a huge battle on the day of the Comet. I might die. My uncle might die. And if we're lucky, Ozai and Azula will die." He gave a tiny, sad smile. "That would make you Fire Lady."

Out of habit, Katara reached for her necklace. She had to dig inside her tunic to find it, and when she did her fingers touched pearls and not leather. "But I'm not even a firebender!"

"I know. And the sages probably wouldn't allow it. The _people_ probably wouldn't allow it. But you would have control of whatever army you could muster, as well as all the money. Not that we'll have much left after we stop the colonization, but..." He ran a hand through his hair. "But the point is, I wouldn't have asked you to do this if I didn't think that putting you in charge was a good idea."

Katara smirked. "I guess I am pretty good at being in charge."

"That's right," he said.

Katara sighed and folded her hands behind her head. She stared at the ceiling as she sank into the pillows. "Wow. Fire Lady Katara."

Zuko edged up alongside her and curled one arm around her, dug his head between her head and shoulder. "Get used to it."

* * *

She woke when Wai Lee squeezed her hand. "Hey."

Katara's eyes blinked open. Wai Lee held a lantern. Katara tried sitting up, but a warm weight held her down. Zuko's arm. He had pulled right up against her, curled around her like a shell. She smiled despite herself. Wai Lee grinned. "Everything's okay," the actress said. "I passed the plans along. Mai convinced her mother. Now hurry up – you're about to be woken up for your first fitting!"

Katara bolted out of bed. Zuko groaned in response, and reached blindly in her direction. "See you later!" Katara said over her shoulder, as she peeled her tunic and pants off. She almost tripped over the clothes just as she jumped into her room and vaulted into bed. A moment later, a guard opened her door. "Get dressed," she said. "It's time for a bath. The seamstress wants to see you."

"Sure," Katara said, trying not to sound too breathless.

The door shut, and a moment later a knock sounded on the wall. Katara followed the knocks to the little hole in the wall. "Is everything all right?" Zuko asked.

"Everything's okay," Katara said. "Wai Lee woke me up. She told me everything. She passed along the plans, and Mai talked to her mom." She found herself smiling. "I'm trying on my wedding robes, today."

"You'll be beautiful," Zuko said. "You're always beautiful."

"Thank you," she said.

"Tell me what it looks like, when you come back."

Katara smiled. "No, I want it to be a surprise." She reached for her clothes. "You'll just have to imagine it."

"I can imagine a lot," Zuko said.

She thumped the wall with one palm. "Don't imagine too hard."

"…Too late."

After her bath had finished, two guards escorted Katara back to her room, where the seamstress and her two assistants were waiting. In the center of the room was a dressmaker's dummy. Katara stopped short and pointed. "Is that…mine?"

"Yes," the seamstress said. "We worked double-time. Didn't we, girls?"

The two assistants nodded wearily. "Once we started, we just couldn't stop."

"It's a lot more fun than those stuffy old traditional robes," the other assistant said. She put a hand over her mouth. "I mean, not that we don't love our jobs-"

"It's okay," Katara said. "I understand." She looked at the dress. "Can I please try it on? It's just so beautiful that I can't wait."

"Those are the words we live to hear," the seamstress said. "Girls, please help Princess Katara undress."

The dress came in about five pieces: a voluminous red underskirt, two dark fabric panels that came down into points edged with embroidered silk, three separate obi belts, a sleeveless wrap blouse with more embroidered edges -- that left enough room to show her new necklace -- and separate, billowing sleeves held to her arms by new golden armbands. The seamstress examined the entire ensemble for a moment before kneeling before Katara and tying a series of artful knots around Katara's waist. She made a mandala knot at Katara's belly, then a lotus flower knot between her legs. The golden thread ended in an egg-shaped stone.

"Good," the seamstress said. "Lift your arms."

Katara did. The armbands were surprisingly good at keeping her massive sleeves up. "Are these bare shoulders okay?"

"It was my impression that you wanted something different," the seamstress said.

"Oh, I did. I mean, I do. And I really love this." She looked down at her arms. "It is kind of like the Painted Lady, isn't it?"

"After a fashion," the seamstress said. "I hope that you will forego the facepaint."

Katara laughed. "All right. Just this once." She grinned. "I really like it. It's so unique. You did such a great job."

"We live to serve." The seamstress inclined her head toward the dress. "Will there be anything else?"

"Anything else?"

"Some missing detail, perhaps," the seamstress said. "You'll notice that the under skirt separates quite neatly from the rest of the dress, but of course it can simply be pulled up if one is of a mind-"

"That's okay!" Katara held her hands up. "Really. I get the picture. And I think I'm fine." She lowered her hands and frowned. The seamstress had unwittingly made a very important point – assuming they were fighting for their lives on the day of the Comet (and it was coming so soon, now, it was only days; how could be only days?) she would need to move quickly. And that meant a lot less skirt, and a lot more visibility. "There is one thing," she said, as she started spinning what she hoped was an elegant lie. "It's, um, traditional in the Water Tribe to have a different undergarment on under the dress. To replace the wrappings."

"To make it easier on him?" one of the assistants asked. The seamstress promptly _tch'd_ her.

"It's just something I'd like," Katara said. "It doesn't have to be anything big, just maybe some really short, short pants, if you know what I mean…"

"I believe it can be arranged," the seamstress said. "But we shall have to take your measurements again. Girls?"

Once undressed, Katara stood still while they measured her again. Then they said it was okay to put her other clothes back on, and she did. She was tying her top back when the seamstress said: "It won't be long, now."

"No," Katara said.

"Are you excited?" one of the assistants asked.

_For what? Watching Aang destroy the Fire Lord? Maybe becoming Fire Lady? Running for my life? Waiting for that shipment to explode? _"Yes," she said. "Everything's going to change."

"I've heard the North Pole is really pretty," the assistant said. "Everyone knows that's where you're going."

The other assistant sighed deeply. "I heard they're fixing up a special barge just for the two of you. Just think of it, weeks in a stateroom with the prince alone at sea…"

The seamstress cleared her throat rather strenuously, and her assistant instantly snapped to attention. "I am sure that the Princess has her own plans to make in that regard, and does not need your help," she said. She bowed. "Please excuse us."

Katara bowed. "Thank you for your hard work."

They left. And just as they did, Katara heard the door to Zuko's room bang open. And then Azula's voice: _"Tell me what's going on before I fry your miserable carcass on the spot."_

Her heart entered her throat. She dived for the hole in the wall so she could hear better. "I don't know what you're talking about," Zuko said.

"You know, I suspected something the moment you came back here – I knew you were too weak to steal what was rightfully the Avatar's, and coming back to search for our mother was beyond stupid, even for you-"

"The Dai Li questioned us," Zuko said. "_You_ questioned us. And you saw what Aang did in the Oyster District! He hates us! What more do you want?"

"I want you to stop lying!"

"I haven't been! I want to find Mom! I want her to meet Katara!"

"Because you love her."

"Yes!"

"And that's why Mai's leaving?"

"I-" Zuko seemed to catch himself in time. "Wait. Mai's leaving?"

"She says she can't stand to see you marry another girl." Katara heard Azula's snort. "I would expect that kind of sentimental maundering from Ty Lee, but Mai? It's not right."

"Maybe she's just afraid of what's going to happen when the Avatar shows up," Zuko said. "She knows your plan. She knows we're the bait. Maybe she just doesn't want to be here for what's going to happen next. Maybe she's scared."

"Mai isn't scared of anything."

"She should be."

There was a long pause. Katara held her breath. "You still believe in the Avatar, don't you?" Azula asked.

"…Yes." Katara heard weight shifting on floorboards. "I believe he has the power to destroy our dad."

"And you'd be ever so happy about that, wouldn't you?"

"So would you, Azula."

There was another pause before Azula laughed airily. "Oh, Zu-Zu. You know me too well." Katara heard the sound of boots on wood. "If the Avatar arrives, will you help him?"

"The last time I saw Aang, he attacked me and he hurt Katara," Zuko said. "He'll be getting no help from me."

Katara strained to hear. Azula was speaking softly, now: "You know, Zuko, I think I would understand it if you just got out of the Avatar's way, when he tries to take down our father. I think I would assume that you were scared, and that you couldn't possibly be expected to make a stand against your former student. And I think our father's counselors could be convinced of the same."

The hairs on Katara's neck rose. She heard Zuko stepping back. "This is why you agreed to this plan," Zuko said. "You're not just luring the Avatar – you want him to kill our dad!"

"Oh, don't look so surprised," Azula said. "Our father's time is over. When the Avatar falls, the Fire Nation will enter a new era. And the fact that our father didn't see this trap closing over him proves that he's no longer strong enough to rule."

"You want to be Fire Lady," Zuko said.

"And you want to survive the Comet," Azula said. "Don't do anything brave, Zuko. You'll be a family man, soon. Just lay low and protect your little wife, and everything will be fine."

"…Will you still send us North?"

"Until I can clean house," Azula said. "And until you can secure the shipping lines. I still need a representative in the North Pole. But the more you help me, the more privileges you can have." Katara heard the sound of a hand patting another hand. "Stop scowling, Zuko. You were never exactly leadership material. Just let me do the hard work, and I can make things very easy for you."

"You want me to be your next Mai."

"Oh, goodness, I certainly hope not," Azula said. "Remember what I've said, Zuko. On the day of the Comet, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Katara heard the other girl leave. A moment later, the light streaming through the hole in the wall cut out as Zuko settled on the floorboards. "Did you hear all that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I wondered why this was so easy," he said.

"Easy? You call this _easy?_"

"Azula never does anything unless it's good for her," Zuko said. "This plan was better for us than it was for her – even sending us to the North Pole was only a side benefit. But baiting the Avatar so he'll take down Ozai – that's definitely her style."

"You think she's just going to abandon your dad and let Aang do the rest?"

"I'm sure of it."

"And we're just supposed to let it happen?"

"Weren't we going to do that anyway?"

Katara blinked. "Well, _I _don't want Azula to be Fire Lady, do you?"

"No. But Ozai's destiny ends with the Avatar. And Azula will be easy to reach without Mai and Ty Lee there to help her."

Katara pushed breath through her teeth. "Oh yeah. She's fair game."

"I'm glad we can agree." She heard him adjust his position on the floor. "So. Do you like your wedding robes?"

Her ears burned. "Yes," she said. She couldn't hold it in. "I love them! They're beautiful!"

He laughed. "That's good. I'm glad."

"What are you going to wear?"

"Armor."

"Oh. Wait, which kind?"

"The black."

"How come?"

"It's the opposite of white," he said. "White's a mourning color."

* * *

Days passed. They heard no news of the weapons shipment exploding. In a strange way, that was the worst time – worse than prison, worse than all the late-night searches and worse than all the choices she had made, because the long days were full of waiting and not much else, and she had enough time to wonder what was happening next and to realize that the Comet wouldn't necessarily bring an end to things. If Aang failed, or if he simply didn't show up, she and Zuko would have to follow through on their agreement to try dispatching Ozai and Azula. These thoughts filled her days. The nights weren't much better. Zuko put a moratorium on their meetings, saying that now that they had done all they could for the mission they should stop risking exposure. "Besides," he had said, "I'm old-fashioned."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to let my dad know that," she had said. "He'll feel so much better."

"He's not losing a daughter, he's gaining a prince."

She had signed a series of documents one day, assisted by Zuko and a group of sages in the library, and had marvelled at the glowing orange tip of the steel stylus used to etch her name in the leathery scroll. "That's everything," Zuko had said when it was finished. He had smiled almost contentedly. "You're sole beneficiary, now."

"You and your children," one of the sages had said.

She had almost said _No, there won't be any, don't worry,_ but she caught herself and simply smiled as politely as she could manage. Zuko grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Don't look so worried," he had said. "I'm sure we'll find a way to play Hide and Explode in all that ice."

Hide and Explode made her think of Aang, and ice made her think of home, and penguin-sledding, and the way things used to be, the laughter and excitement and fun, before they knew of the Comet, before her hands had blood on them. Tears rose in her eyes. "Hey, now," Zuko said quietly. He looked at the sages. "Just jitters," he said, and the old men nodded silently. Zuko tipped her chin up. "Don't cry," he murmured. "I'm not going anywhere. These are just scrolls, not Aunt Wu's bones."

The tears came harder at that. What had Aunt Wu said? _A powerful bender._ Her wishlist had been so shallow. _I hope he's tall._ Now she was faced with war and a wedding, and she wasn't sure which frightened her more._ You'll die in your sleep, surrounded by your grandchildren. _"I'm just a little nervous," she said, wiping her eyes.

"I know," he said. "Me too." He smiled. "But I have a cure for nervousness."

"Does it involve tea?"

"No," Zuko said. He leaned closer, murmured in her ear: "I picture taking our son ice-dodging."

And something within her melted and she grabbed his face and kissed him with just her lips, just a single insistent press, and when she let him go she said: "I love you."

* * *

And then, finally, it was the night before.

Katara had intended to spend the night trying to get some rest. If this were the South Pole, there would be food and a whole tent full of women and laughter, dirty jokes and old stories. And if her mother had been alive, there would be all kinds of special moments (she was sure of it; moments like that were that supposed to happen, weren't they?) between the two of them. They would share secrets and she would tell her mom everything about Zuko and Jet and Aang and the war and the eclipse and the Oyster District. And her mother would chide her for not having seen it all coming a mile away. They would eat salted fish and make paste from charcoal to beautify her skin. And the next day she would march out into sunlight so bright and pure it made the snow into a field of stars, and…and…

And then a knock sounded on her door, and a guard threw a dress at her. "Family function," she said. "Get dressed."

The "family function" was nothing less than a special performance of some kind. Katara sat beside Zuko in the formal dining room, with Wai Lee on her right and Li and Lo beyond. To Zuko's left sat Azula, then Ozai.

"I saw this troupe in the market, today," Wai Lee said. "I mentioned that I knew the happy couple, and they insisted on playing a set for you!"

Katara's heart entered her throat, and she nearly burst into tears as she watched the musicians stride into the room, instruments in tow. There seemed to be more of them, now – more drummers, and a zither player with a giant, face-shadowing headdress who had to be guided to one place before sitting down. Chong sat down with his pipa and smiled at them. He wore nicer clothes, now, but his delivery hadn't changed: "Well hello, there, Mister Fire Lord. Fire Princess. Well, princesses, now, I guess." He winked.

Ozai shifted on his cushion. "Ty Lee," he said, "_where_ did you say these people were from?"

"Oh, we're nomads," Chong said. "Me and the wife. Lily. Say hi, honey." Lily waved. "And over there's the rest of the family, we've got Lee and Kuma and-"

"That will be fine, thank you," Ozai said. "Please just…sing. If you must."

"Oh, we _must_ sing. We're _compelled_ to sing. It's, like, a _calling_."

"Then please get on with it, or you'll be answering a call to the prison tower just for dawdling," Azula said.

Chong blinked. "Wow. That's heavy. Being a princess must be so hard. You know, my buddy makes this tea-"

"Suffering sages, will you just _sing_, already?"

"Oh! Sure thing." Chong grinned. "Well, we'd like to start with an old standby," he said. "We call this one 'Secret Tunnel.'"

* * *

She was fussing with her dress when Zuko showed up. "Sorry," he said. "I know what I said, but…"

"You can't sleep, either?"

His good ear pinked. "Guess not." He winced. "I can't get that stupid song out of my head…"

"You mean the one that goes-"

"No. Please. Don't. No more. Thank you."

"Oh, come on. They weren't that bad. And besides, those people are my friends."

He frowned. "They are?"

"Well, I couldn't exactly tell you in front of everybody, but those are the nomads I was telling you about, before." She squinted at him. "Remember? That night with the fireflies? I told you about the Cave of Two Lovers?"

"The fireflies," Zuko said. He smiled. "Yes. I remember."

"Well, those people are the ones I told you about. The ones we followed. Although why they're here right now, I have no idea." She grinned. "That was cute, what you did with the fireflies, that night."

His good ear burned. "It wasn't supposed to be cute. It was supposed to make you hate me less."

She sighed and slid her arms around him. "I don't hate you."

He kissed her hair, held her face. "I don't hate you, too." Then he was kissing her, and she had missed it, more than she had known she would, and he was pulling her tight with one arm and tangling his other hand in her hair.

Someone cleared their throat behind them. They froze, and slowly peeled their lips away from each other as they turned to face the figure in the secret doorway. The blind zither player stood before them. She lifted her headdress away.

"Well, Zuko," she said, "aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Mom," he said, and he had crossed the space between them before Katara really saw him take the first step. He wrapped his mother up in his arms and buried his face in her hair. "Mom." His breath came rough. "Mom."

Katara watched long, scarred fingers work their way into Zuko's scalp. "Hello, my darling." She pulled away, and Katara saw wet streaks on the older woman's face. "I'm sorry I'm so late."

Zuko wiped something from his good eye. "You're not late," he said, thickly. "You're right on time."

Ursa beamed. "Well, I couldn't miss all this." She leaned around her son and looked at Katara. "It's nice to meet you."

Katara ducked her head. "It's nice to meet you, too, um…I'm sorry, but I don't know what to call you."

"Mom is fine," Ursa said. She held up a finger. "Ah, that reminds me. I only have a little time, but…" She reached inside one sleeve and retrieved a little square of blue silk. "These are for you, for tomorrow." She held the silk out.

Katara took the little package, and unfolded it. In the center was a cluster of loose pearls, each of which had been made into a bead. Despite the dimness, they seemed to glow. "These are beautiful…"

"I thought they would match the necklace," Ursa said. "They're for your hair. Your brother said you liked…loopies?"

Katara couldn't help but laughing. "Yes. I do. Thank you."

"Well, just tell everyone that Wai Lee found them for you," Ursa said. She turned to Zuko. "I'm sorry, I have nothing to give you-"

"You've given me everything," Zuko said.

Ursa smiled a little brokenly. "Zuko…I know I have no right to ask you to forgive me, but you have to know that I did what I did because-"

"I know," Zuko said. "And it's okay. I understand." Ursa sighed, and Zuko put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I just owe your friend the earthbender some money. She and I had a bet going about you."

"You took one of Toph's bets?" Katara asked. "That was your first mistake. She'll rob you blind."

"No pun intended," Zuko said, grinning.

Ursa lifted a hand to Zuko's face. She covered the scar and he froze in place. "You know, I used to be afraid I wouldn't recognize you," Ursa said softly. "But when you smile, I know exactly who you are."

"That's because I know who I am, too." Zuko swallowed. "Mom, I've done a lot of bad things, but I want you to know I'm different, now-"

"We're all different, now," Ursa said. "But you're still my child."

Zuko's eyes lifted. "What about Azula?" he asked.

Ursa looked at the floor before appearing to steel herself. "Only one girl calls me Mom, now," she said, "and her name is Katara."

Katara blushed, before another thought occurred to her. "Are you here to kill the Fire Lord?"

"No," Ursa said. "I couldn't endanger the two of you that way. At least, no moreso than I have already. Iroh wanted me to wait to show myself, but…well, I'm a lot less patient than I used to be." She folded her arms. "And Iroh's just jealous that he can't be here himself, to give you two a firm talking to."

"About what?" Katara asked.

"Oh, you know. Grown-up things."

"Not battle plans?" Zuko asked.

"Your uncle has only one piece of advice for you in that regard," Ursa said. "He told me to tell you to prepare yourselves to bend a storm, tomorrow."

"That's it?" Zuko asked. "Bend a storm? That's it?"

"I think it's going to be one epic storm," Ursa said. "So be prepared." She leaned over and kissed his cheeks, first the unmarred one, then after a moment's hesitation, the scar. Then she kissed Katara, too. "You hear me? There's a storm coming. Get ready."

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: I forgot to mention, in the header for the last chapter, that Katara's wedding robes were designed by none other than OrePookPook. (I can't take credit for the beauty of the design, only for the basic idea. Like Katara, I wanted something inspired by the Painted Lady, but he refined my ideas and created an absolutely beautiful costume.)**

**Thanks: YOU. You guys, my fellow divers, are the real heroes of this story. Without you I could not have gone on. Without you I would not have discovered all that I was capable of with this story. You have shown me what I can be when I try, and that makes you the real storybending teachers.**

* * *

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. _--Frederick Douglass_

* * *

The dawn came too soon.

Katara woke early. The nervousness was like a living thing inside her stomach and her bones – she thought she might crawl out of her skin. Instead, she took a deep breath and slid out of bed. Then she practiced waterbending forms. She leaned into the postures, testing her balance, stretching the muscles she knew would see the most use. She thought back to that first scroll -- funny, the way things worked out sometimes – and she remembered Master Pakku and Akna and even her enemies, how they had been her best instructors, how she wouldn't be the bender she was without those challenges. They had made her strong. And she needed that strength, today.

The guards found her practicing. She stood up, for once unashamed of her state of undress, and watched as Li and Lo shuffled into the room. "It is time for your ritual cleansing, my dear," one said. "You have a big day ahead," said the other.

"You're telling me," Katara said.

* * *

Before the ritual cleansing, however, came a ritual breakfast. They marched her down into the bowels of the palace, far below Azula's hair-combing room to a place with dark wood walls, a slate floor, and a single hot spring. There was a rough family-style table near the spring, and several dishes laid out. "Eat up," one of the old ladies said. "You'll need your strength," said the other.

Katara sat down. She contemplated the dishes. There was a roasted turtleduck soup with long noodles, purple coconut rice, dumplings shaped like moon peaches, a juicy dragonheart fruit cut into fourths, and marbled eggs boiled in what looked to be spicy hibiscus tea. It looked beautiful.

It was also likely poisoned.

_Of course they would let us get this far. Of course, at the end of all our plans, when we've worked so hard, this would happen. Now I'm alone at the bottom of the palace with two crazy old bats who probably want to bury me in the foundation of Azula's house._

"This is too much," she said. "I can't eat all this. I won't fit into my new robes."

"Nonsense," one said. "You'll work it off," said the other. And their eyes twinkled.

Katara kept her hands in her lap. "Why are you being so nice?" she asked. "I haven't exactly been the model prisoner."

"That is true." Both women turned away and looked at the hot spring. Steam rose off it. Idly, Katara wondered if she should just bend the water up around them and drag them into the spring. She could hold them down. She could drown them. And if they generated any lightning, they would only cook themselves alive.

"Do you know what this place is?" one asked.

"It's a hot spring," Katara said.

"It is the Spring of Life," one of the old women said heavily. "Long ago, a woman gave birth to the first Fire Lord in this spring. She had a dream that if she bore the child here, he would grow strong and unite our people." Her sister spoke, now, gesturing toward the pool: "The waters of this spring come from deep within the soil of our greatest island. They have the power to purify all ills and pre pare one for what lies ahead." They turned to her. "Just as the North Pole has the Spirit Oasis, the Fire Nation has this place."

Katara looked at the spring with renewed interest. From here, it seemed like a flat plane of obsidian – she couldn't see the bottom. "So you're saying it's a sacred place?"

"Oh my, yes." The old ladies walked back to the table. "And these are special foods," one said. She pointed one knobby finger at the soup. "Turtleducks mate for life. That is why we eat them on wedding days. And the noodles mean long life." Her sister pointed at the dragonheart. "And that fruit, the dragonheart, is called maidenheart in other countries because it bruises so easily. Maidens like it best."

"I do like them a lot," Katara said. "Zuko gave me one, once."

"Yes, he would," Li or Lo said. She pointed: "Those eggs are for fertility, and so are the lotus seed buns." Her sister smiled. "You'll have enough for a good game of Hide and Explode."

Katara blushed. "What about the rice?"

"Oh, that," one said, smiling. "We just liked the color."

"It's red and blue together," said her sister.

Despite herself, Katara beamed. "I guess that does fit."

"It's safe," one said. "Go ahead," said the other.

Katara pursed her lips. Only one more tactic left. "Won't you share it with me?"

The old ladies whisked chopsticks from their sleeves. "Don't mind if we do!"

Katara watched as the two women began digging into the food. Only after she had seen them chew through some of the food without any after-effects did she allow herself to take a bite. And then another, and then another, because the food was good – it tasted like Oyster District food, hot and spicy and sweet and sticky. She'd had no idea she could miss it so. When the meal had finished, she pushed her bowl away and carefully laid her chopsticks atop it. "You're making me fat," she said.

"You'll sweat it out." One sister gestured. "Come on. Up you get."

Katara stood. "Undress," the other sister said.

One very suspicious part of Katara wondered if maybe this wasn't an attempt on her life but rather a nasty prank – it would be just like Azula to let someone wander around the palace naked. But Li and Lo were undressing, too, and she slid her clothes off and folded them neatly. "What's next?"

"Your wrap," one sister said. They shuffled over to a group of earthenware jugs along one wall, retrieved them, and uncorked them. Kneeling at Katara's feet, they both dipped their fingers inside one, and began smearing something dark up along her calves.

"What is that?" Katara asked.

"Charcoal."

"We do charcoal treatments before weddings in the South Pole, too," Katara said, suddenly pleased. "It's to help the skin."

"Ah, but do they also wrap the girl in seaweed?" One of the old women reached into a second jug and drew out a long green leaf of wet kelp. Carefully, she wrapped it about Katara's leg. The process took a long time, but when it was finished they had coated and wrapped Katara's whole body, and smeared her face with charcoal. "Now you cook," one said, and gently guided her into the water. One sister sat beside her, a finger on her wrist. Soon, Katara felt her pulse begin to thrum inside her body. The water was so hot she could feel the sweat start leaking almost in time to heart beating. And then the other sister began washing her hair.

"I'm going to fall asleep," she said.

"Go ahead. When you wake up, you will be cleansed."

Katara sighed and let her eyes flutter closed. When they opened again, one of the old women was pressing something wet to her lips. "A little honey and yuzu juice," she said. "Drink up."

The drink was sour and sweet, but mostly just cool in comparison to the hot sulphurous stew she was cooking in, and Katara drank until it dribbled down her chin. "Thank you."

"How do you feel?"

Katara smiled weakly. "Like one of those noodles."

The old woman smiled. "Good. Now stand up."

"I'm not sure I can…."

A stern look drifted over that ancient face. "Is that any way for a true daughter of the Fire Nation to speak?"

Katara stood up just to get a better look at the old woman's eyes. "I'm still a hundred percent Water Tribe, thank you."

"Then why do your eyes spit fire?" Smiling craftily, the old woman lifted a hand and scrubbed away the charcoal on Katara's face. "You have bathed in the waters of the Spring of Life, and washed clean the ashes of the past," she intoned. The old woman pressed a thumb to her forehead. "Now we give you the old blessing." The sisters chorused slowly: _"A spark in the mind, an ember in the heart, a fire in the belly, and destiny in your hands."_

"Now you are reborn," one said. They smiled. "Today Sozin's Comet returns," one said. "Today you will drink ryu-nyuu, the royal drink, and take your new place in history."

Katara took a deep breath. She looked into the glassy water surrounding her. Lifting her arms, she bent it up in one shining wave and doused herself clean. She shook her wet hair free. "I'm ready."

* * *

Her footsteps were surprisingly steady and sure as she entered Azula's hair-combing room. The seamstress and her assistants were there waiting. They quickly undressed her, then dusted her over with a sweet-smelling white powder. "It's rice flour and powdered honey," one of Azula's attendants said. "It's for the sweat."

"Do I get to put on my robes, now?"

"I'm afraid not," the seamstress said. "First your hair needs doing, and if you spend all that time sitting down, you will crush the silk."

"Oh, my hair," Katara said. "Um, Ty Lee gave me-"

"Those have been taken from your room," either Li or Lo said, and withdrew the little square of blue silk from a sleeve. The pearls were still there. Katara took a seat, and waited as the women combed through her hair and began threading her hair with the pearls. In the mirror, she watched as they worked on her with their pale, careful hands. After threading the hair framing her face, someone said: "Bring the sticks."

"These are a gift from the governor of Omashu's daughter," one of the women said. She held out a dark wooden box, then lifted open the lid. Inside were four hair sticks that looked suspiciously like Mai's senbon. They had mother-of-pearl beads at the heavy end, but their points were unmistakable. "She left a note."

"Oh, really? Let me see, please."

Katara examined the tiny scroll. Mai's handwriting was elegant and spare, like the girl herself. _"On your big day, be careful. These can draw blood."_

Katara frowned at the note. Was Mai really telling her to be careful out of the goodness of her heart? Anything was possible, but the emphasis on blood struck her as odd. Were they poisoned? Would Mai really take her revenge that far? Maybe, but if so Katara could turn it to her advantage and stab someone else with them in a pinch. (How odd, to think so casually of stabbing someone on her wedding day. But she knew that by the time the day was through, lots of people would have to make the same choice.) Katara put the note down and nodded at the women with their hands in her hair. "Go ahead and use them."

The women drew her hair into a high bun, twisting the hair around one stick, then using the others to secure it. Little charms dangled off the mother-of-pearl beads, and they caught the light when Katara turned her head. "Now it's time for the robes," the seamstress said.

The seamstress and her girls had tightened the dress a little; now it had a more definite outline and seemed to push Katara out and suck her in a little more. When she looked into the mirror, her eyes popped. She no longer looked like herself – that was someone else in there, wearing Fire Nation colors and a glittering sky opal. She gulped. "Wow."

"Indeed," the seamstress said. "Now the veil."

"There's a veil?"

The seamstress smiled. "Are you not the Painted Lady? Does the Painted Lady not wear a veil?"

Katara grinned at her in the mirror. "You're right."

They secured the veil by placing it over her hairsticks. The sticks made a little tent that spread the veil out, and tiny golden beads and pearls dangling from small red lotus flower knots at the hem of the veil held it down. "I feel like a princess," Katara said, staring at herself through the veil.

"You are one," Li or Lo said. As one, the two women seemed to prick their ears up as though they had heard a signal that no others could hear. "The Comet approaches," one said. "It is time."

* * *

They led Katara to a formal outdoor courtyard featuring a high dais framed by massive pillars. Someone had set up a long table there. A long white carpet stretched from the dais to a gatehouse beyond, with large tables on either side, people in Fire Nation formal wear, and great strings of lanterns high above the tables. For now they were unlit, although Katara heard someone complaining in an undertone about the weather and how dim it was.

And the weather was awfully foreboding – the air was thick, but a stiff breeze kept slicing through that brought an ocean chill in its wake. Heavy clouds hung low in the sky. Ursa had said that they should prepare for a storm. Nature, it seemed, felt like cooperating.

Katara had only a glimpse of the setup before Li and Lo pulled her back. "You must make your entrance after the Fire Lord," they said.

"Where is Zuko?" she asked.

"He is on his way."

Real fear set in. Maybe Azula had scheduled Zuko for one last interrogation before the Comet's return. Maybe something had happened – Mai had ratted them out, Wai Lee had slipped up, or they left something incriminating behind. Maybe it was all over. _Zuko, where are you?_

"Here we are," Azula said from behind her. She stood beside her father. She wore a match to Zuko's black armor. The Fire Lord wore massive golden shoulder guards in the shape of phoenixes, but otherwise looked the same. Sages flanked them. One squinted at Katara and pointed.

"Don't I know you?"

Katara's heart stopped. She struggled for the right words. Of all the people she had imagined bringing the whole scheme down, she had never once worried about the sages. "Um, you probably just remember my wanted poster," she said.

Squinting, the old man nodded and moved back into line. Azula scowled at him for a moment before turning to Katara. "It looks as though we may be in need of some rainbending," she said.

"I'll do my best." She looked around. "Where is Zuko?"

"He's in position," Azula said. She looked to her father and the sages. "Father?"

Ozai peered up at the clouds. "Yes," he said. "Let's finish this before the Comet returns." He nodded at the sages. "Go."

The sages left. They assembled on the dais, faced the crowd, and lifted their arms. Katara heard them begin exhorting the virtues of the Fire Lord and the royal family. She leaned over to get a better glimpse, but strong fingers clamped down on her bare shoulder. "Wait," Ozai said.

Goosebumps rose on her arms. "…Yes?"

Ozai turned her around to face him. He narrowed his eyes down at her, and slid a hand up under veil. She backed away, but his other hand held her fast. She held her breath. He was playing with her necklace. "This is turned around," he said. "It won't do."

"Oh."

"What is that on the opposite side?"

"It's an eclipse," Katara said in a tiny voice.

"Ah," Ozai said, laughing a little snidely back in his throat. "Because you eclipse him, no doubt."

The sages said Ozai's name and Katara watched the Fire Lord walk away. She saw Azula's eyes following him, and for just a moment she felt a stab of pity – for how blind he was to everything his children could be, the good and the bad. Ozai ascended the dais, and his citizens knelt before him until he took a seat behind the long table.

"That's our cue," Azula said. "Come along, Ty Lee."

The two girls flanked Katara with Li and Lo standing behind. Slowly, they marched up to the dais. The crowd, sitting on their knees, knelt again. Azula ushered Katara to a small table set with red thread, a slender dragon-shaped bottle, and a single bone cup. "Kneel," she said under her breath.

Katara knelt. She did her best to sit upright, and stared up at the clouds. They were deepening gray – she was reminded suddenly of Aang's eyes. A tremendous knock sounded at the gatehouse. The wood jostled on its hinges. "Who knocks?" one of the sages asked in a theatrical voice.

"It is Prince Zuko, son of Ozai and Ursa, come to claim his prize," said a guard at the gate.

"What is the Fire Lord's will?" the sage asked.

Silence. Katara turned her attention to Ozai. "Prince Zuko may enter," Ozai said, "but he must _crawl_."

A murmur moved through the crowd. Katara stared at the gate, now. She watched it swing open. Zuko stood there in his black armor, and he gave her one long look before the guard nearest him knocked him to his knees.

He crawled.

Something hot and painful wedged itself in Katara's throat and tried to come out through her eyes. She was suddenly sorry that she had ever forced him to knees. She watched the others watching him, looking down at him as he slowly placed one hand in front of the other and brought his knees forward. The armor looked twice as heavy, now, and the shin guards meant he had to lift each leg carefully so as to avoid tearing the rug. Katara glanced up at Ozai and Azula. Both smiled, apparently pleased, and anger so pure it made her heart race surged up through her. _Petty. Petty, ignorant, and selfish – just like he was on our first night in this place._

Zuko had made his way to the steps. He raised his head and looked at Katara, then his father. When Ozai said nothing, he continued crawling on his knees to the little table. When he reached it, he was sweating. But then he paused, and his eyes searched her robes, and settled on her necklace. He beamed, and made a show of adjusting his cuff, exposing her old necklace on his wrist. She smiled. Then he adjusted the other and gave her the tiniest glimpse of a hilt secreted up under the fabric – his dagger. He winked. She had to work to suppress her giggle.

"Let us begin," the oldest sage said, and moved to the little table flanked by two younger assistants. "Child, pull up your veil."

Katara pulled her veil up and back. Zuko's smile only increased. Her ears burned. The sage turned to Zuko and held out a massive, ornate scroll of the same leathery substance Katara recognized from the legal documents. This looked much older, however, and the scroll's rods were carved of bone. "Prince Zuko. By reading these vows, you accept all obligations described therein. Are you prepared to accept those obligations?"

"I am."

"Then please read."

Zuko glanced at the scroll, widened his eyes, and looked quickly at Katara. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his throat, and said: _"My life I give to my family. With my hands, I protect my wife and our children. With my mind, I seek ways to better their life, and with my feet I turn always toward our home."_

The sage shifted over to Katara. "Princess Katara," he said. "By reading these vows, you accept all obligations described therein. Are you prepared to accept those obligations?"

She nodded. "I am."

"Then please read."

The sage bent down a little and showed her the scroll. She opened her mouth to read – and promptly understood Zuko's sudden alarm. The vows, like most of the Fire Nation's most ancient documents, were in _classical script._ And this time – unlike the tale of Painted Lady – she couldn't just read the pictures. Her eyes shot up to Zuko. His mouth began to shape the words, and she followed them:

"_My life I give to my family. With my…hands…I protect my…husband…and our children. With my…mind….I seek ways to…better their life, and with my…feet…I turn always toward…our…home."_

"Very nice," the sage drawled. "Now the tying of the knot. Gentlemen."

The two younger sages stepped away from their elder and knelt beside Zuko and Katara. Each picked up an end of the red thread laying on the table. "Please hold up your hands," the elder sage said. Katara held up both, but Zuko held up only his right, and the younger sage took only her left. He prodded her little finger away slightly, and looped the red thread around it. He pulled it tight, then he and the other saged worked deftly on an intricate mandala knot with the two ends.

"Is it tight?" Zuko asked.

"What?" one of the sages asked under his breath.

"I like my knots tight."

The sage gave him an odd look, but Zuko continued smiling calmly as ever. The sages withdrew and he gave Katara a knowing grin. He looked absurdly happy – you'd never know that the dagger up his sleeve was probably meant for his sister. Then again, maybe that was part of his good mood.

"By accepting these obligations, you have agreed to be tied together by a bond that only death should tear asunder," the older sage said. "Maintaining the strength of this bond requires courage. One cannot flinch away from one's promises, no matter the trial." He gestured. "Please hold your hands high."

Zuko raised his hand, and Katara did the same. Now the little red knot was directly in front of the sage. She watched the old man pull back, raising his hands in a classic firebending pose. Now she understood what he _really_ meant about not flinching: he blasted fire straight at the knot. Heat strafed her open palm. Across from her, Zuko remained perfectly still. When the flames dissipated, the knot had disappeared. A few in the crowd applauded. Behind her, Katara thought she heard Wai Lee do the same.

"And now the contract," the sage said. The two younger sages unrolled a second scroll, with Water Tribe and Fire Nation symbols burned into the leather. Zuko produced a tiny flame on one finger, and signed his name. He held his finger out. "Stylus?"

"Oh, no," one of the younger sages murmured. "We forgot…"

"Oh, that's no problem," Katara said, and with some difficulty, removed one of Mai's senbon-turned-hairsticks. She smiled at Zuko. "Could you please heat this up for me?"

"With pleasure." He held his flame to the tip, and waited until it glowed orange. Katara drew it away, leaned over, and signed her name.

"The names of these two have been written on the contract and written into Fire Nation history," the elder sage said loudly. "Now they will drink ryu-nyuu, the royal drink, and seal their partnership."

Zuko reached for the dragon-shaped bottle, poured a small measure into the cup, and handed it to Katara. Frowning, she sniffed the drink. It was white and milky, but smelled like honey and pepper. Shrugging, she tipped it back – and nearly cried at the spice that exploded in her mouth. She coughed. Zuko reached over and grabbed the cup, then slid a thumb over her upper lip and stuck it in his mouth. He poured himself a drink, raised it to her, and tossed it back.

The sky shattered.

Katara looked up. The clouds had darkened significantly. She saw flickers of lightning nestled deep inside. And directly over the courtyard was a swirling vortex. The wind rose. The crowd began whispering. Behind them, Ozai and Azula stood up. Ozai strode over to the table and pointed at the vast, twisting spiral in the clouds. "What is that?"

Zuko stood. "It's your destiny."

Something rumbled beneath their feet. Katara looked to the stones at their feet and saw the aisle that Zuko had just crawled rupturing and splitting – the carpet shredding, the stones flying, people shouting. Her heart started to skip. _This is it. It's really happening._

The stones erupted beneath them. Something rose from the depths, roaring – a massive creature with curving horns and slavering jaws _and floppy ears._ Flopsy. King Bumi's huge pet. And riding him were two figures, one in green, one in pink. They jumped free of Flopsy's saddle. Katara watched Ty Lee arc through the air and heard Azula cursing. And beside her was Toph, hands outstretched, and she brandished gleaming golden Dai Li gloves. They shot through the air straight at Ozai. The Fire Lord stood agog and silent as Toph's golden gloves hit him in the shoulders, the knees, the stomach. One clamped down over his throat. She and Ty Lee landed in unison.

"Who _are _you?" Azula asked, hands ablaze.

Ty Lee tilted her head sadly. "You mean you didn't even notice I was gone?" Then she slapped Azula across the face with a gloved hand. Both the Fire Lord and his daughter fell like sacks of rice.

Azula growled. "Why can't I _move?_"

"Because Sokka was right, as usual," Ty Lee said. She winced at her glove. The palm looked sticky. "A little xirxiu venom goes a long way."

Toph dusted her hands off and shrugged something off her shoulders. She tossed Zuko a sheath. "Nice crawling, Sparky."

Zuko drew his swords, spun them in his hands. "Oh, I missed these…"

"Here you go, Katara," Ty Lee said, and handed Katara double skins of water. "Ooh, that's a really pretty necklace!"

"_Shoot them!"_ Azula was shouting from her position on the ground. _"Shoot them now!"_

They looked up. Above on the parapets, Yu Yan archers and Fire Nation soldiers appeared. And in the soldiers' hands were the dragon-shaped firebreathers – the Mechanist's weapons were aimed solely at them. "Toph. Walls," Zuko said.

"Don't worry," Toph said.

The weapons fired. Katara saw it happen slowly: first chambers turning on the weapons, then the fire in each soldier's hand-

-and the black finger of cloud that touched the scarred earth below, sending arrows and lead balls flying along with dishes and tables and lanterns, the whole detritus of the wedding spinning in the wake of a cyclone at whose center stood the Avatar.

Aang's shoulders heaved. China and glass and silk and lead fell all around him – a rain of garbage. He looked leaner, stronger. He wore a necklace of wooden beads like the one she had seen on Monk Gyatso's skeleton, and he carried his staff in white-knuckled hands. "Fire Lord Ozai," he said. "Your time is up."

Lightning clapped above them. Thunder rolled. And with the pattering rain came three distinct shapes streaking down from the clouds. One of them was Appa, in full armor. The other two were blue and red and long and they moved like ribbons, quick and nimble as a dream, and when they breathed fire the people fell to their knees.

"Dragons," Ozai said in a broken voice. "I thought they were all gone."

"You thought the same about my people," Aang said, as he ascended the stairs. He gave Flopsy a friendly scratch on the chin. He looked at Zuko and Katara. "Hi, guys."

"Aang!"

Katara ran for him. She stumbled a little on the rift in the earth, but managed to grab him nonetheless. He smelled like rain. He let her squeeze him for just a moment before pulling away. "You look…different," he said.

She smiled. "So do you."

Aang leaned around her. "Hi, Zuko."

"Aang," Zuko said, nodding, as a Fire Nation banner behind him went up in flames. The remaining lanterns caught fire under the dragons' mouths. The crowd scattered in terror, ran for the gate. It wouldn't open. Katara looked up. Even the Yu Yan had broken ranks – what few were left now shot their arrows harmlessly at the dragons. The sages had assumed postures of deep regret: they knelt on the dais with their foreheads pressed to the ground. Even Li and Lo simply stared up at the great beasts circling the palace.

"So," Toph said. "This one's your dad, huh?"

Zuko looked. "Yes."

Toph plunged her hand into stone and came back with a fist three times its normal size. She marched over to Ozai's prone body. "Hey there," she said, and punched him solidly in the face. The Fire Lord raised his head once, snarling, before his eyes rolled back and he fell.

Zuko leaned over. "Um, Champ, I don't know if this is what you were going for, but you kinda got him in the wrong eye."

Toph shook stone free of her fist. "I'm blind, Sparky. He's just lucky I didn't miss low."

"Oh, Toph, look at your hand! It's all dirty!" Ty Lee stepped up to the earthbender and began brushing Toph's hand off. "You really have to watch these things; you could break a nail-"

Toph's face flared. "Stretch, come on, let go..."

Katara turned to Aang. "So…"

"They got friendly during her questioning," Aang said. "Only Toph could tell if she was lying."

"How sweet," Azula said from the floor.

"Shut your face," Toph said, and bent a stone glove over the princess' mouth. She kicked the earth and stones jabbed Azula in the stomach. The princess coughed around her gag. Toph jerked her hand away from Ty Lee. "You put up with this crap, Stretch?"

"Well, it was before I met _you_, Toph-"

"Oh, dear sages," Zuko said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Above them, tiles crashed down from the roof. The red dragon dug his claws into the structure and exhaled fire over the crowd. Flopsy promptly whimpered and cowered. Aang blew sparks away from his fur. A figure slid away from the dragon's spine and down the roof. General Iroh wore antique Fire Nation armor; it looked like what Sokka had said Yue's father wanted his soldiers to use during their "undercover" mission. He pulled off his helmet and strode over to them.

"Children," he said, smiling.

"Uncle!" Zuko had the old man in his arms. "You're here!"

"Today is a special day," Iroh said. "I wouldn't miss it."

Katara stepped forward. "What about my dad?"

Iroh's bushy brows rose. "I imagine he is with that lovely Akna, planting undersea explosives on Fire Navy vessels."

"Hey, that's our trick," Zuko said.

"Yeah, no fair, he copied us," Katara said.

They laughed. Then Iroh began coughing. He clutched his heart. Katara looked at Zuko – he was doing the same. Slowly, he slipped to his knees. His eyes were wide and he was sweating. His breath came fast. Aang fell in a little heap, knees drawn to his chest. He twitched. "The Comet," he said. He looked at Katara, and for a moment she saw a little boy again. "Run," he rasped. "Run away. Now."

She shook her head. "No."

"_LOOK TO THE SKY!"_ she heard Li and Lo chorusing. From their knees, the old women pointed their scrawny arms to the west, where the clouds had not quite gathered. _"SOZIN'S COMET HAS RETURNED!"_

It streaked down through the blue afternoon sky, tiny in the daylight but bright as the morning star and fast as a darting fish. It disappeared, and Katara turned to look at the people on the ground. Slowly, the whole wedding party was rising. Fire Nation aristocracy stood and rolled their shoulders. They looked at their fiery hands. And they smiled.

"You know, it's funny," Azula said, and Katara's blood went to ice. She watched the other girl stand up and brush her mouth clean. "I've never wished on a shooting star before." Blue flame blazed in her hands. "Guess I'm just lucky."

She threw twin balls of fire at Iroh. Zuko scissored his legs at her from the ground and she fell, rolled backward, popped back up. Her hands were still aflame. Zuko drew his swords. A pause, then he lunged first. "I should have known you would do this," Azula said. "You know I'm still the better bender."

"I know it doesn't matter," he said, and swung for her neck. Azula flipped backward, danced up and back. Zuko was so intent on her that he didn't see his father break free of the Dai Li gloves and begin stirring the air with his hands, didn't see the sparks, and didn't see it when Katara uncorked her waterskins and bent Ozai's lightning back at him with a crack of her waterwhip. The Fire Lord staggered back, hair mussed, crown sparking. He snarled at her and raised his hands, but a blast of flame to his right knocked him off his feet.

"Brother," Iroh said in a heavy voice, "this is our fight."

Ozai swung his wild eyes on Iroh. "You're right," he hissed.

Iroh flicked his gaze in Katara's direction. "You know where to go."

She glanced at Aang. He nodded. "Go. I'll be okay."

She bolted in Zuko's direction with a snake of water already spinning above her head. He and Azula were sparring on the long table likely intended for the wedding meal, disturbing plates and cups as they moved. China and lacquerware crashed to the stones below. Azula brandished daggers of pure white flame. Zuko skimmed white fire off his blades. They wove around one another; her foot arced over his head and he pushed forward, tried to stab her. Raising her hands, Katara threw all her concentration at the blood in Azula's body. The other girl froze for just a second before wrestling mightily. The Comet had given her terrific strength – she fought harder against the bloodbending than even Hama.

"Do it now," Katara said through gritted teeth. "Now, Zuko!" Azula wriggled and Katara squeezed, tried finding the blood in her throat. "I'm slipping!"

"You _witch!_" Azula writhed and spat. "I don't know what you're doing, but you're an abomination-"

Zuko crossed the swords on her neck. "Watch your mouth when you're talking to my wife."

A shot rang out.

She turned. Azula's blood slipped from her grasp. Ozai stood over his brother with a small firebreather in both hands. The end looked sawed-off. It smoked. Slowly, Ozai lowered it. Iroh was on the ground. His breath heaved. He clutched his left shoulder. Blood pooled around him. A low, anguished scream filled Katara's ears, and it wasn't hers.

Ozai spun, robes whirling, hands on fire, but Zuko ducked under them, crouched low, and skewered his father in the belly with both swords. Ozai flinched. His weapon dropped. He coughed blood. "Zuko…" He snarled. White flame blazed in his hands. He reached back to hurl it in Zuko's face. Zuko blocked his fist with one arm. Then the other came down and he had to block that one, too. Now they stood with arms locked and trembling. Ozai spat blood in his son's face. He grinned. "Oh, Zuko," he said. "Truly, you are my loyal son."

"No," Zuko said, and he broke his father's grasp, spun his hands in two circles. Lightning crackled in Zuko's fists, and he plunged them down onto the blades. Light sizzled down the steel and into his father's body. Ozai went rigid, lips pulled back, body twitching. Grimacing, Zuko kept his hands on the steel. His father's body jerked. Katara smelled something burning. Finally, Ozai wriggled free of the blades. He fell backward, hair fried, fingernails black, with one hand upraised.

"Azula…"

"What?" Azula hopped up from the table and grabbed a beam. She swung up to the roof. "I'm finished helping you, Father. The Avatar is right. Your time is over." She ran for the dragon. She made a fire-whip and lashed the animal with it.

"She's getting away!" Aang leapt into the air and jumped for the roof. He dashed after her. Katara started running, but a warm, sticky hand clasped her wrist.

"Let him go," Zuko said roughly. "Please."

Katara pointed. The dragon was taking off. On it were Aang and Azula. She saw blue flame. "But…"

"Aang has a glider. Azula doesn't." Her gaze fell to the Fire Lord. He looked surprised and hurt, a little bit like a lost child lying in his own blood, and she didn't know if he was alive or dead. Zuko's hand squeezed hers. "My uncle is dying."

Katara turned. Toph and Ty Lee had knelt beside Iroh. Toph held one hand over the wound. Katara watched as tiny fragments of metal wiggled out of his flesh and into her fist. She bent them aside and the shining, bloody chips scattered on the stone. "You're gonna be fine, Pops," Toph was saying. "You're going to bend again, I promise."

"Please," Zuko whispered.

Katara broke away from him. She summoned a ribbon of water and crouched beside Toph. "Oh, Miss Katara," Iroh said, eyes closing. "You are a vision to these old eyes…"

"Oh, be quiet," Katara said, and began working the water over his wound. "Toph, did you get most of it out?"

"Think so," Toph said. She sat back on her knees. "Good thing you got us those plans…"

Zuko sank to his knees at the crown of his uncle's head. He removed the helmet. "Come on, stay awake," he urged. "Stay with me."

Iroh smiled. "You'll be fine… You always find a way…"

"But I need you," Zuko said. He smoothed the old man's hair back. "I don't know how to be Fire Lord. I don't know anything about how to run a country." He was crying, now. He bent double and laid his head on the old man's shoulder. "I can't do this on my own," he whispered. "I need your help."

Katara's vision blurred. She waited for the water to glow. He was leaking blood too quickly. She raised one hand and pinched the vessels off. Sweat broke out on her forehead. "If I can heal a stupid sloth, then I can heal you," she muttered. She plunged her awareness into his blood. She bent it back where it needed to go. "Zuko, hold him together."

She felt rather than saw Zuko take hold of the shoulder. Using his grip as a brace, she bent the water around inside the wound. Iroh gasped. "It's okay, it's just healing," she said, as the water began to glow. She forced all her energy into it, imagining the vessels repairing and the skin knitting. Pain spiked up in her head. Iroh groaned and arched up off the ground. She finished and sat back, hands tingling and wet. Below her, Iroh was white.

"His heart is still beating," Toph said.

Zuko's bloody hand covered Katara's. "Thank you."

"What happened, here?"

Katara looked up. Standing over them, their figures dark against the clouds, were the Stormbender Xiao Zhi and Ursa. Xiao Zhi's pale eyes narrowed in their deep and wrinkled sockets. She looked even more haggard than before. Ursa, however, had taken a place beside her son. "Zuko…what…?"

"Ozai shot him." He turned to his mother. "Azula got away. She's with Aang." His eyes lifted to Katara. They were still wet. "Katara, I'm sorry, I promised I wouldn't let her hurt him, I told him-"

"We can find them," she said.

"And you can destroy that phalanx of dreadnoughts along the way," Xiao Zhi said. She pointed behind herself. "They're over the harbor. They're carrying a payload of bombs, and they're headed straight for the colonies."

Zuko stood. "But Aang-"

"The Avatar is not the boy you left behind," Xiao Zhi said. She looked at the both of them. "He is in control of his elements, and so are you. The dreadnoughts cannot be brought down by firepower alone – their payloads will explode directly over our forces on the ground. We need another way. We need stormbending."

"We can't take down a dreadnought with just one shot," Zuko said. "And how would we even get up there?"

Xiao Zhi pointed to a nearby rooftop. The blue dragon circled it. "I see a dragon in the sky, and an ocean with your name on it," she said. "You figure it out."

Zuko looked down at Iroh, then Katara, then the sky. He licked his lips. "But-"

"Zuko, the Fire Lord's first duty is to protect the people of this nation," Ursa said in a low voice. She stood. Katara followed her. "I am your mother and I am asking you to bend those things into the sea." Ursa placed her hands on his shoulders, dusted them off. "And then you come right back to me, do you understand?"

Zuko smiled. "Mom, I promised Aang." He took hold of her hands. "We're his teachers. We have to protect him. We're not coming back without him." He looked at Katara. "Right?"

"Right." She looked Ursa and Xiao Zhi. "We'll disable the dreadnoughts. But then we're finding Aang."

"Well hurry up, time's wasting," Xiao Zhi said.

* * *

As she'd feared, the run across the courtyard was hampered by her voluminous underskirt, and in the end Katara had to stop just to tear it off. She kicked it away and kept running. The thing was surprisingly heavy, and she was much better able to keep up with Zuko's dead sprint without it. He didn't notice it was missing until they had pounded up the stairs and crested the roof. Above them, the dragon darted this way and that in a slow circle. It puffed fire toward the sky – Katara wondered if she was signalling her mate, somehow.

"I might have to – _wow._" Zuko pointed. "Uh…when did…?"

"Oh." Katara looked down. As requested, the seamstress had given her a new undergarment, but it was more like a scrap than anything else. Now all that covered her legs were it and the two broad panels of dark fabric attached to her lowest belt. "Well, the skirts made it hard to run…"

Zuko gulped. "Right." He shook his head and stared up at the dragon. "Um…I hope I remember this right…" He lunged forward. A bright white flame appeared in his hand. The dragon darted down to him. Zuko looked so small before that massive, bearded head. The dragon breathed steadily, nostrils flaring. Katara understood now the reverent tones the boys had brought back to the Western Air Temple. The beast before her was beautiful and rare and powerful. And now it was looking at her over his shoulder, and she caught an unmistakable intelligence glittering in those huge golden eyes.

"Do I have to dance?" she whispered.

"I don't know." He backed up a little. "Um…get your water out."

"Zuko, it's a _dragon_, it doesn't want to see _waterbending_-"

"Just trust me!"

Growling, she released more water and held it aloft. "Okay, now what?"

"Put your arms around me," he said. "Bend the water right in front of me."

She grinned. "Oh. I get it." She bent the water down in front of him. Slowly, she began to stir it, and he felt him doing the same in the air. They wove around one another, pushing and pulling. She saw the briefest flicker of sparks before he said: _"Now,"_ and she shot the lightning-infused water off into the distance. The dragon reared its head to watch the fizzling dance of light. Then it swung back to examine them. It lowered its head.

"I think we're good to go," Zuko said. He moved for the dragon. Hesitantly, Katara trailed after. She tiptoed up to the dragon's face and nearly died right there when a delicate, forked tongue flicked out and touched her leg.

"It's _licking_ me…"

"That just means it likes you," Zuko said, and grabbed her hand. He hauled her up to a spot behind the dragon's horns and sat her in front of him. The creature's hide was surprisingly soft on her bare legs. When it breathed she could feel it humming all through her skin. "Um, I've never done this before." He leaned around her. "Uh…the dreadnoughts, please?"

And they were off.

The impact of sudden flight kicked her back against Zuko. He scrambled to grab hold of the horns, but settled for a little patch of scales in front of her instead. They rocketed into the air. She gave a little scream, then started laughing. It was like her first time on the glider. She bit her lip and looked down. The whole capitol was in flames, it seemed. _I was right to ask Mai to leave with Tom-Tom._ Everything about the place was much tinier from here, but she could still pick out Appa's shape gliding through the sky, and see the little golden arrow that was his armor. And if she squinted, she saw two shapes, one blue and one green, in his saddle. That alone gave her the strength she needed to look forward to the dreadnoughts. They were huge, great steel things with dragon-shaped prows that hovered like vulture-wasps over the peninsula.

"I'm going to need more water," Katara said, and shrieked when the dragon dipped down toward the harbor. Zuko's hands clamped down over her hips and kept her from lifting up in the sudden rush downward. Her veil flew away and the little red stone tied to her belt bounced. She laughed. The dragon skimmed the sea and she leaned forward – Zuko grabbed her waist and she thought of that other wedding, the one in the Oyster District, and how he had kept her from falling – and summoned two waves of water on either side of the dragon's spine. The waves grew and grew and grew until they were shimmering walls at their sides, and then the dragon burst free toward the sky and the battle above them. She bent the two streams of water – big as Ba Sing Se transit trains – in their wake. She watched Zuko's hands descend in front of her. He wove them in opposing circles. She looked up. The dreadnoughts were so close now she could see men in uniform waving to one another.

"Now," Zuko said, and when she lashed the first dreadnoughts with her massive new water-whips they were sparking and they smelled like a storm.

They rode straight up the cloud of machines, trailing lightning and seawater and destruction in their wake. The steel-sided vessels began to spark. They drifted down and away. She saw men slumped dead over their tillers, fried like Fire Lord Ozai. Fire from untouched vessels blasted over them. The dragon responded in kind. Bombs triggered inside the cargo holds of each vessel – the explosions nearly knocked her off the dragon.

Then came the grappling hooks.

They soared through the sky, all cable and steel, and the dragon swerved to avoid them, but she was too big and too long, and they were too many. The hooks pierced her flesh and she screamed violet fire. She fishtailed and Katara almost slipped again. She looked backward. The dragon was bleeding in several places. "I can try healing-"

"No," Zuko said. He pointed. "Look."

The hooks had penetrated deep. But they had also bound the dragon and the dreadnoughts. And she was stronger. And she was towing them out to sea. "Dive," Zuko said quietly. He yelled at the dragon. "Dive! _Dive! DIVE!"_

She dived.

There was a horrid squealing sound as those steel beasts fell toward the sea, rivets popping free, metal shearing. They entered the ocean and Katara felt the ocean's cold drag at her ankles before she bent a pocket of air around them, and they plunged down and down and down into someplace dark and murky. The dragon tore down through the depths. She barrel-rolled and some of the hooks tore loose; she sped up and plowed out of the water, shining and wet.

Behind her, Katara felt Zuko standing up. She heard him draw his swords. "I have to cut the cables," he said, and before she could say anything he was gone. She turned to see him dashing down the length of the animal's spine, hacking and slicing at the cables. With each slice, the creature got faster. Soon she was straining to get free and when he cut the final cable she whipped the water with her tail and they were headed straight for the sky, streaming blood and water. But Zuko wasn't there.

"Zuko?" Katara tried to see him. She levered herself up on her knees and crawled toward the horns. Grabbing one, she tried catching a glimpse of the animal's belly. He wasn't there, either. "Zuko! _Zuko!"_

The animal bucked and she caught sight of him clinging to the dragon's tail. Behind him were the remains of the dreadnoughts. They foundered in the sea. And they were growing smaller, the higher the dragon flew. Katara swallowed. She grit her teeth. And she bent two boots of ice to secure herself to the dragon's still-damp body, and started walking.

The dragon bucked again, screeching, and knocked her to her hands and knees. So now it was her crawling to him, the way Ozai had made him crawl to her, and the wind whistled past her and the air got thinner and it was tough to breathe, but she lifted her raw and bleeding knees up and made her slow way down the animal's twitching body. "Hold on," she whispered. "I'm coming."

But then the dragon inverted again, and she fell, and she slid helplessly down its skin and landed much closer to its tail. Something cold and blinding enveloped her, and then brilliant sunlight warmed her skin. They were above the clouds. Pain made her arms shake, but she hauled herself up onto her belly and squirmed the rest of the way. She pushed herself down toward the tail. Miraculously, Zuko was still there. "Gotcha," she said, and grabbed his hand. She wrenched back and he collapsed over her.

"You saved me," he said into her neck.

"Not for long, though," she said. They sat up. She had to gulp air. "This air is getting really thin."

"I think she's panicked," Zuko said. "She's still bleeding."

Katara looked at the wounds. There were too many of them. "I can't heal them all."

Zuko rubbed his arms. His hands looked purple. "What about freezing them?"

Katara winced, then nodded. "It'll stop the bleeding." She inched closer. "Hang onto me, okay?"

"Sure." He grabbed her waist and she leaned down over the animal's side and skimmed the air with one hand. Water froze to her fingers. She concentrated, and blasted icy water along the creature's body. She watched the bloody gaps in those blue scales frosting over. Quickly, she dipped into the air again and twisted more ice crystals free, gave it another blast. The coat of ice was thicker, now.

"Other side," she said, and leaned over to repeat the process. But when she had coated the wounds in ice, the dragon continued climbing. Zuko was panting, now. He looked dizzy. Katara felt sick. She looked down at the clouds. Above them, the sky was darkening. She thought she saw stars, but she wasn't sure if it was just the lack of air.

"We have to jump," she said.

"You're crazy." He could barely sit up straight.

She grabbed his face. "Zuko. Listen to me. I need you to bend a signal flare. Okay?"

He looked down into the clouds. "Who's going to see us?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know. But if we don't jump soon, we're going to pass out and fall, anyway."

Zuko breathed like a child struggling not to cry. He leaned his forehead against hers. "I can't," he said. "I can't. It's too much."

She wrapped her arms around him. She set her chin on his shoulder. "I know you," she said in his ear. "I know what you can do. And you can do this."

He almost laughed. His arms circled her, held tight. "Hold me tight and don't let go," he said. He kissed her.

They fell.

They fell through ice and through fire, down toward the sea, straight past flaming war balloons. They fell and she felt Zuko's fire streaking around them, and she held his arm to keep it straight and gripped his sheath. He coiled his other arm around her and he was kissing her with his eyes open like he didn't want to forget and the sea was rising to meet them and she wondered if the fall would hurt or if they would just wake up in the Spirit World-

-and something jerked her hard in the back and she flew backward, gripped Zuko's hands, yanked him back over her-

-and into Appa's saddle.

Sokka flipped his wolf helmet up. "Hey, sis." He was still gripping the double waterskins at Katara's back. "Miss me?"

She threw herself into his arms. "Sokka!"

Her brother hugged her tight. He rubbed her arms when he pulled away. "That's some outfit." He looked over at Zuko. "You've got some explaining to do, buddy."

Zuko sighed and hung his head. "Believe me, I know."

"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but there's trouble due east," Suki said from her position at Appa's reins. She pointed. The red dragon was whipping through the air. Aang darted around it on his glider, avoiding blasts of blue fire from Azula, who clung stubbornly to one of the creature's horns.

"Take us there," Zuko said.

"Appa, yip yip!"

The beast groaned and slid through the air, all six legs churning and tail beating the wind. Katara grabbed for the edge of the saddle. She felt Zuko take up a position behind her, all warmth and armor. His hair had come loose. So had hers. Her robes were soaking wet and torn. She shivered and he wrapped her up in his arms as Appa dived for the dragon. They watched as Aang sent blast after blast of fire Azula's way. She batted them away. As they drew closer, Aang shot up on a ball of air, snapped shut his glider, and spun it to create a vortex. He punched it forward and its spinning force tore Azula free of the dragon. She fell to earth streaking blue fire. The impact drove her deep into a hillside.

They stood to watch. Azula was so deep inside the earth they couldn't see her any longer. Suki leaned over. "Is she-"

"No," Zuko said. "She doesn't go down easy."

They heard a rumble and crack down below. Appa circled the hill. Something orange bubbled up from the earth. It rolled down the grass. Lava. Then a great stream of it spurted up the hill, and riding it was Azula, her hands full of fire.

"I hate it when you're right," Sokka said. "How come that place looks so familiar?"

"It's the bunker," Zuko said. "Take us down there."

An explosion knocked Appa to the side. They collapsed to their feet. He roared and flew up a little higher, spiralling around the plume of ashy smoke belching up from the ground. "Uh, no can do," Suki said. She pointed. On the ground were Fire Nation tanks, their cannons pointed up at Appa. "There's nowhere to land!"

"This is bad," Sokka said.

"It's a trap," Zuko said. "She knew she could lure him away. And I let her do it." He drew his swords. "Get me a rope."

"You're insane!" Sokka pointed down into the fire. "I'm not letting you dangle out there like bait for those tanks!"

"But she's my sister!"

Sokka leaned in so close his face was inches from Zuko's. He jabbed him in the chest and spoke through clenched teeth. "And _my _sister is _your_ wife, and if you leave her a widow today, I will _never_ forgive you." He pulled away. He stared down at the fight. Aang was bending air at Azula; she kept on dodging and dancing and lashing him with whips made of lava. "Aang has to do this on his own."

Zuko hung his head. Katara sidled up to him. She reached for his hand; their fingers tangled. Below, Azula made a dash at Aang. He twisted water free of the air and made an ice slide. Azula charged up its length, spun in the air, and brought down a leg that trailed blue fire. Aang sent an air-ghost of himself in her direction; she flipped backward, landed skidding on her feet, summoned lava straight from the earth and made spinning blades of it that rolled straight for Aang's feet. He brought up a wall of stone and squashed them flat. He flicked his fingers and the stones below Azula rose, clamped around her. She exploded free of them. She made the Yu Yan form. Zuko's grip turned steely on Katara's hand. "No, please no…"

Azula bent the lava straight at Aang in one blazing arrow of molten heat. He bent up a wall of rock, but it was no use: the stones shattered around him, and he fell.

"_NO!"_ Zuko was yelling. It sounded like something being dragged out of him, a noise like rusty chains hauling a heavy load. He had fallen to his knees and he was reaching over the saddle. He looked ready to climb out and jump. _"AZULA!"_

A pillar of light soared up from the volcano. It glowed through the smoke and haze. The red dragon roared and Appa groaned. Something small and brilliant floated up through the light. It was Aang.

He was glowing.

Katara sat on her knees. He looked so beautiful, suddenly, so different from the rest of them, his arrows blazing brighter than anything anyone could bend. He moved his hands and she knew those movements, she had seen them before, the confidence and efficiency and the wisdom of a thousand lifetimes condensed into one too-small vessel. Lava spiralled up under him. He wove it through the air, split it, shaped a penta-pus of fire and sparks.

He mowed down the tanks like a farmer threshing wheat. They exploded. Iron and steel bounced into the air, fell with a crash, melted. She tried not to hear screaming. Instead she watched Aang bend a deep river in the earth, saw him channel the lava into it so it flowed down into the sea. Something exploded near him, and he looked up. Their gaze followed his. A small group of war balloons had converged.

"Oh, no," Zuko murmured.

"He'll be fine," Sokka said.

"I know he will," Zuko said, just as Aang stirred the air almost lazily with one hand, and bent a ball of white lightning straight at the nearest balloon. It burst into flame. The others tried turning away but he was still the boy who had bested everyone at airball, and he sent them speeding missiles of lightning and wind that streaked across a sky snowing ash.

"Aang, stop," Katara whispered. She knew he couldn't hear her from here, but she kept it up: "Stop, please stop…"

As though she had heard her wish, Azula struggled up from the ground. She carefully stirred the air with both hands. And just as they, in one voice, yelled at Aang to look out, she sent lightning crackling up at him. It struck him full-force. His hands twitched.

"In, down, across, out," Zuko said.

Aang bent the lightning back. But he bent it along a stream of water culled from the steam that shimmered below him, and that water coiled around Azula's shuddering, burning body like a fist or a cocoon. She jumped and jolted inside its grip. Then she fell. And so did he.

"Suki! Now!"

"I'm on it!"

Appa didn't have to be told. He dived for the falling shape. He dipped down into the dark and pungent clouds, and when he arose trailing ash and sparks, Aang was with them. Zuko held him cradled in his arms, across his knees. _I held him that way, once, the other time Azula shot him with lightning. _Katara crouched down.

"Aang, wake up," Zuko said in a firm voice. He touched Aang's cheeks. He bent down, listened to his chest. His face came up. "His heart's not beating."

Katara's own heart seemed to stop. She held a hand over his heart. Sniffing and trying to concentrate, she sought the blood inside him, felt around for the right vessels. They were stagnant. She stirred them, but they had lost the rhythm. She tried again. Nothing. "It won't start!"

"Try again."

"I have!"

"Wait, you can re-start somebody's heart?" Sokka asked.

"You re-started mine! You can re-start his!"

"That's different! I'm the one who _stopped_ yours! Azula's lightning did this!"

"Stop it!" They looked up. Suki was standing up inside the saddle. For the first time, Katara noticed that both she and Sokka wore facepaint. She looked every inch the Kyoshi Warrior they had met all those months ago – the kind of girl who could lead a battalion, the kind of person who would never let Azula win, ever. "You two are married. You have the rest of your lives to fight. Right now Aang needs you." She swallowed. "Lightning stopped his heart. Maybe it can start it up again."

Zuko's jaw fell. "We're trying _not_ to kill him-"

"No, she's right," Sokka said. "Think about it. Today is the day of Sozin's Comet. You're stronger now than you've ever been. You can focus enough to create a little tiny blast, right?"

Zuko turned to Katara. "You found him. You brought him back to life. It's your decision."

Katara looked at Aang's pale face. She remembered something, reached back into her hair, and retrieved the sole remaining senbon. Biting her lip, she pricked four of her fingers and clenched a fist. Blood pulsed free. She pulled Aang's robes aside and held her dripping hand high over his skin. "Do it."

"Whoa," Sokka said. "Stormy, bloody, healing bending."

Zuko was weaving his hands tightly. He made a tiny white shape in both hands, the size of a lotus. "Small enough?"

"Just right."

He flicked it at the trails of blood leading down to Aang's heart. It fizzled across his skin and Aang arched up, caught his breath. His eyes opened, closed, then opened again. He coughed. "How'd I do?" he asked, before his head rolled to one side.

"You did great," Zuko said, and rested one dirty, bloody hand across Aang's tattooed head. "Let's go home."

* * *

Zuko carried Aang into the infirmary himself, and laid him down on the bed beside his uncle's. Katara tried occupying herself healing, too, until someone reminded her that her knees were a mess and she sat down to heal herself – and couldn't get up again. She was dizzy and sick and sore. Zuko sat on her little infirmary bed and watched his uncle and Aang. Someone came up to him and called him Fire Lord Zuko and asked for orders:

"My Lord, King Bumi's forces have arrested the Dai Li. Where would you like them held?"

"Your Fire Lord is in that bed over there," he had said, pointing to Iroh. "Ask him."

Katara had sat up. "Use a wooden crate." She swallowed. "Then push them out into the ocean."

"Yes, my Lady."

Zuko had turned to her, then, eyes glittering. "I'm not the Fire Lord," he said. "I can't be the Fire Lord. I just _can't._"

She reached out and grabbed his hand. "You're not giving up, are you?"

"…Not without a fight."

* * *

She woke up to hear a woman singing: _"Little soldier boy / Comes marching home / Brave soldier boy / Comes marching home…"_

And her father was there when she opened her eyes, his hair wild and his wolf helmet bloody, and he looked terribly old and his lip was split, but he was petting her hair and he said: "Hi, baby," when she smiled at him.

"Dad…"

"How's my little girl?" He sniffed. "I guess you're a married woman, now, I can't call you things like that…"

She yawned. "It's okay. They have this thing called divorce here… It's pretty neat…"

"General Iroh told me all about it, sweetheart." He looked over her shoulder. She made a half-turn and saw Zuko lying beside her, head pillowed on one arm, the other arm draped across her ribs. "I wish you all the luck in the world with that whole divorce thing. It looks like you'll need it."

She blushed deeply. "We didn't…" She wormed her way deeper into the pillow. "I mean, nothing happened… It wasn't like you said…" She sniffed. "I mean, what you said that day, when you said that I couldn't come home…" She was crying, now.

"Oh, Katara…" He grabbed her hand and held it to his face. "Oh, my baby." He gulped. "Your mom and I had a serious talk about those words, and how they would protect you."

"Mom…?"

"Well, me, your mom, and a big bowl of cactus juice." He smiled. "You can come home anytime you want. If you want to, that is." His smile broadened. "Seems like being Fire Lady would be a lot of fun."

Katara frowned. "If anyone's Fire Lady around here, it's Zuko's mom."

"Not the way she tells it," he said. "She keeps on saying she was 'only a princess' when Ozai banished her. Whatever that means."

Katara shrugged. "I guess Zuko did say I'd be good at it…"

As though hearing his name, Zuko sat up. "Huh? What?" He paused. "Oh. Hakoda. Sir. I was just-"

"I think you should take my daughter to a better room, son," Hakoda said. "She needs her rest."

"Oh. Right. Yes. That's a good idea."

Hakoda handed Katara folded blanket. "And tie this around yourself. The men in this country don't know what it means when a woman wears a necklace."

Giggling, Katara stood up. She dutifully wrapped the blanket around her middle. She had to half-hold it in one hand while waiting for Zuko. At the door, she turned and saw her father grip his upper arm and squeeze it. She watched Zuko bow deeply and salute. And when he rose, she saw her dad grab him and hug him hard and she saw his lips shaping _thank you_.

* * *

Zuko undressed her. She felt a little like a child when he made her step out of her slippers, but she was falling asleep on her feet and couldn't complain. He eased off the great sleeves and their attached armbands, and slowly picked the pearls out of her hair. Next came the intricate knots over her belts, and he said something about his fingernails being too short but she watched and his hands were shaking too hard to untie those tiny little knots. "Use your dagger," she said. So in the end he simply cut her free, and she helped him with the other belts, and stepped out of the last piece of her skirt. She hugged her arms. All her necessary bits were still covered, but it was hard not to feel more than naked under those eyes.

"Jun was right," Zuko said. "You are too pretty for me."

Katara stepped up and laid a hand over the scar. He stilled and closed his eyes. He pressed her palm into the rough flesh there. "You're the first person I ever let touch this," he said. "Whatever happens, just…just remember that."

Katara tugged at the battered armor. "You know, the sooner you take this off, the sooner we can go to bed."

His lips quirked. He looked at the floor. His good ear had pinked. "I, um…I wasn't sure if…"

"Zuko, if you run out on me on my wedding night, my dad will break you in half."

He paled. "Good point." He undressed facing away from her, then moved around the bed before pulling back gauzy red curtains and sliding in beside her. He looped one arm around her. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah…" Her eyes were already closing. "What room is this?"

"…Mine."

"Oh. I like it."

He kissed the edge of her ear. "It's yours now, too."

* * *

The next morning she caught him propped on an elbow, staring at her. "Am I drooling?"

He smiled. "No."

She rolled over to see him better. "So."

He burrowed down in the pillows. "So."

She bit her lip. "They're not, like…going to check our sheets or something, right?"

He reddened. "No." His eyes popped. "Is that what they do in the South Pole?"

"No, not anymore."

"Well, we used to light our brides on fire, so-"

"_What?"_

"It was a purification ritual. The groom doused his bride in kallu wine, bent fire at her-"

"That's _insane!_"

"It was before the islands unified! It's primitive! We don't do it, anymore!"

"Yeah, now two old ladies take you down into a hot spring and cook you alive," Katara muttered.

He frowned. "They showed you the Spring of Life?"

"Well, yes…"

"That's a very special place."

"Are you saying I shouldn't have been allowed in?"

"No, not at all," he said, opening his palms. "It's like ryu-nyuu. It's normally reserved for Fire Nation royalty." He smiled. "But you are Fire Nation royalty, now, I guess."

Katara pursed her lips. She looked at their hands. "So, um…." She gulped, and hated her eyes for stinging. "About this divorce thing…"

"It'll take a while," Zuko said. "But if it's what you want, then we'll do it."

_Why am I crying, now?_ "I just… I just don't know if I'm ready to be grown up all the way, yet," she said. "It's too big. And it's not because of you, I promise! If it could just be like this all the time, just you and me, then it would be different, but-"

"Sweetness."

She blinked. "What?"

"I understand." He picked her hand up and twined their fingers. "Yesterday, when I saw Uncle Iroh fall, I had to face being the Fire Lord. And I wasn't ready. I'm still not." He licked his lips. "And if that's how you feel about this, then…"

She nodded. "Yeah. That's it. It's just too much right now." She wiped her eyes with the ball of one hand. "I've always been something for somebody else. Like the daughter of the chief or the Avatar's waterbending teacher. And I don't want this to be like that. I don't want to be just another part of someone else's plan."

"You're not _just_ anything."

"I know, but…" She sniffed. "When I was the Painted Lady, I got to choose it for myself. And when I choose someone – anyone – I want it to feel the same."

"You didn't choose me?"

"No, I did, I just…" She wormed up against him. This was too hard to say with him looking at her that way. "I just want to choose you for myself, not because it helps Aang or it hurts Azula." She smiled suddenly. "I don't want to have to share."

"My wife, the tyrant." He kissed her hair. He ran his fingers through it. "Your hair needs washing."

"You're a real romantic, Zuko."

"…Can I please wash it?"

She pulled away and blinked. "Um…"

"You can keep your clothes on. It'll be like swimming."

She smiled. "Okay." They got up, and this time she saw what she hadn't last night: great swaths of purple bruising across his ribs. She pointed. _"Zuko!"_

"What? Oh. That." He shrugged. "The dragon gave me a beating."

"You probably broke a rib!"

"Is that why it hurts to breathe?"

She pointed. "Get in that bathtub right now!"

"Spoken like a true Fire Lady." He limped into the bathroom. A moment later she heard water pounding into the tub. She watched him ease himself into the water, wincing, and was reminded of their first night in this place, how Azula had commanded that she "fix" him. She had spoken as though Zuko were just a broken toy, which to Azula he probably was. Katara took off her necklace, then hopped into the water across from him. He already had a bar of soap. "Come here."

"Healing first, then hairwashing."

She drew the water up in two ribbons that coiled gently around him. She closed her eyes and found the cracked rib. With a quick jolt of energy, urged the blood back into the proper place – he groaned – and soothed the hurt with water. Dizzy, she stumbled back a little and saw the glow receding from the water. His bruising had improved. "See? All better."

"Not quite," he said, and reached for the back of her knee. He squeezed, then used the leverage to pull her into his lap. "I need this, too." His wet hands rose from the water and pulled her down for a kiss. The kiss went deep and she tasted the sour remnants of spices on his tongue, but didn't care. His hands were everywhere, in her hair, down her back, pulling her right up against him until his body jerked up to meet her and she squeaked her surprise into his mouth.

"Just tell me when to stop and I will," he said. "But you made me feel better, and I really, _really_ want to return the favor."

"Yeah, you're a real giver," she said, as his teeth trailed her neck.

"Sweetness," he said, "you have no idea."

* * *

They were late to breakfast.

Zuko had spent the next little while proving his point. And then proving it again, just because he was proud of himself. And then a third time, because she was honestly surprised and said a little breathlessly: "You know, this is a lot better than when _I _do it." (For some reason that made him look happy enough to cry, before went back to the matter at hand.)

He was still flexing his fingers when they entered the dining room. Which was a mess. Not least because of the bear.

"_Bosco?"_

"Oh, hello there, Fire Lady Katara!" King Kuei popped up and waved. "Don't mind Bosco; we're really working on his manners, but the battle was kind of stressful-"

"There's a bear at my dining table," Zuko said.

Katara turned. "You're not too quick, are you?"

"Well _there_ you are!" Sokka waved a drumstick in their direction. "I saved you some meat!"

They pushed forward. "What about Aang?" Katara asked.

"Right here," he said, dropping down from the rafters with Momo on his shoulder. "Sorry. Momo got his tail stuck up there."

The lemur leapt for her shoulders and eagerly began sniffing her. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," Aang said. He smiled. "That's three times you've saved my life, now."

Katara patted Zuko's arm. "Well, the third time was more like a team effort."

Aang made the Fire Nation salute. "Thank you both."

Zuko did the same. And then he surprised Aang the way Hakoda had surprised him – with a fierce, tight hug. Aang looked over Zuko's shoulder at Katara, but she just put her arms around both of them. "I told you I would find you," Zuko said.

"I remember," Aang said. "No matter how long or how far, right?"

"Always," Zuko said.

They pulled back. Aang wiped his eye with the back of one finger. "Well, let's eat."

"Now there is a wonderful idea," a very tired voice said behind them. They turned. Iroh was on a wheeled chaise lounge, pushed by Ursa. He looked exhausted and worn, but his eyes still sparkled. Along behind him came Teo and the Duke in a cushy two-seater pushed by Haru. Beside her, Zuko froze. Katara's heart skipped a beat. Their hands found each other for just a moment before Zuko was pushing forward and kneeling at Teo's chair.

"Your father-"

"It's okay," Teo said. "Your friend – the one with the all the arrows? He said Dad died serving the cause."

Zuko blinked. "Yes. That's true. He did." He swallowed. "The Fire Nation has a lot to rebuild. And we need engineers. And if you want…"

Teo grinned. "Sounds awesome. What's my salary?"

"Draw the contract yourself," Zuko said.

Teo's eyebrows lifted high above his goggles. "Well, uh, okay…I'll, um, get right on that…" He wheeled away.

Katara smiled at Zuko. "That was a good thing you just did."

"More like the least I could do."

"Will you two sit down already?" Sokka was standing up with a cup of tea in one hand. "Everybody's here."

And everybody was. Wincing, Katara dashed over to the table. Zuko took a seat beside her. Sokka, however, remained standing. He gave Katara one of his _You're never gonna believe this, but…_ looks, and she narrowed her eyes. This could not possibly be good.

"So, we'd, uh, we'd like to invite you all down to Kyoshi this spring," Sokka said, ears burning. "If you can make it, of course. But it would be really great if you could. Because we'd like you to be there. Even you, Zuko."

"I'll check my calendar," Zuko said flatly.

"And you too, Ursa, and Wai Lee, well both Lees I mean, and General Iroh, too-"

"Where is this going, Snoozles?"

"We're getting married," Suki said. She looked at Katara. "I'm sorry, but you really gave me a bad case of wedding envy."

"Hopefully yours doesn't end in explosions," Zuko said.

Iroh clapped his hands together dryly. "Well, this is fantastic news!"

The Duke raised what looked to be a whole mug of tea. "Cheers!"

"Seconded!" Toph said, and held up her teacup.

"Thirded!" Ty Lee said. "Oh, we'll have to get you something really cute to wear, Toph-"

"I'm wearing my champion belt, or nothing at all."

"You tell her, Champ," Zuko said.

"Speaking of Miss Toph," Iroh said, "I have an announcement of my own."

"Oh, great sages," Zuko murmured. "You know, I always wondered-"

"Miss Toph is now the Bei Fong representative to the Fire Nation," Iroh said. "She will be living here from now on." He looked at Zuko. "If that is quite all right with you, Fire Lord Zuko."

Zuko's jaw dropped. "Me? _You_ were first in line-"

"I abdicated," Iroh said. "While you were sleeping." He blinked. "I do hope the two of you had a nice rest." He smiled gently. "And regarding your divorce…it seems that the sages will want to wait at least a month to see if there is any cause for concern…"

"Why a month?" Aang asked.

"To see if the Sugar Queen's got a dumpling in the steamer," Toph said.

As one, Katara and Zuko's palms met their faces.

* * *

At the end of the month, after Ozai and Azula's cremations and after the coronations – Katara got one, too, despite the paperwork they had filed – and after the cleanup, after the trials and the late night meetings with the White Lotus and after Iroh sent "some of his Pai Sho chums" to the Bei Fongs to "make matters painfully clear" regarding Toph's new residence, after they heard from the Sun Warriors that both dragons were nesting comfortably once again, after the first treaties were drawn and after King Bumi sent the most absurd wedding gifts, after the musicians finally left with a new crop of songs to share with the Ember Island Players, after Zuko gave Hakoda the Southern Fleet and a sack of "some really funny looking money" that Katara recognized from a rainy night in the Oyster District, Katara and Zuko sat together looking at the turtleducks.

"So," he said. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

"You're all packed?"

"Yeah."

"You're taking those teas-"

"Yes. Your uncle showed me."

"And the koalamb's wool-"

"_Yes._ You've asked me twice, today." She hugged her knees. "I'm going to miss you."

He smiled. "I'm going to miss you, too."

"It's a long time, you know. Almost a year."

"You'll be fifteen. Almost sixteen."

She frowned. She rather failed to see what that had to do with anything. "I guess so." Her frown deepened. "Shouldn't you be making some big romantic speech about how you don't want me to leave?" She pointed. "There's a full moon! And glowflies!"

"_Fire_flies."

"Whatever! This is the part where you tell me you love me and you don't want to do this without me!"

He lay back in the grass. "I do love you. And I don't want to do this without you." He turned to look at her. "But I want you to want me, too." He looked up at the moon. "I've been forced into too many decisions," he said. "I've had to go where other people tell me to. And that's not what I want for you."

She looked at the turtleducks. Iroh had given them two jade ones. He said they were a traditional gift, because the animals mated for life. (Her own father had given Zuko a spear; it now hung over his bed, above the twin swords.) Zuko had a point. And she liked that he thought of those kinds of things. If she was being honest, it was something she loved in him – the way he had become accustomed to his freedom and wanted the same for everyone he cared about. That was something they had in common.

"Well," she said, blinking tears back, "you're taking it a lot better than me."

He sat up and faced her. "That's because I know something you don't," he said.

She sniffed. "Yeah? Like what?"

"I have a date with you in the spring." He kissed her. "And I never, _ever_ give up without a fight."

* * *

_SEE YOU ON KYOSHI FOR THE EPILOGUE…_


	18. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, VIACOM, Paramount, Mike, Bryan, and Night. No profit is made by me for this story.**

**Notes: Please see the end of the story for my final notes and thanks.**

* * *

_'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood_

_When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud_

_I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form._

_"Come in," she said,_

_"I'll give you shelter from the storm."_ – Bob Dylan

* * *

FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE BEI FONG ESTATE AT THE BA SING SE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES:

_Dear Katara,_

_Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy the coat. Uncle says that komodo hide and koalamb's wool should keep you warm. Mom says I should have given you more jewels. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_That was what, four lines? FOUR? That's all you can manage? Nothing about Toph or Teo or how things are going? Are your royal proclamations this vague?_

_-Katara_

_PS: I really like the coat. It's already winter here, and the Northern Water Tribe men weren't exactly familiar with how to slay or skin polar tigers so…we're all a little chilly._

_Dear Katara,_

_I had this strange idea that you might actually be too busy rebuilding your country to read my letters. But apparently not. _

_Everyone is fine. Teo has his own factory, now. (We built it on the grounds of the one you almost destroyed.) Toph is whipping the militia into shape. Ty Lee seems to enjoy community service. (She works at the zoo.) Xiao Zhi has taken to her captain of the guard position very well. Mom is trying to teach Uncle the zither. He claims to be too old._

_I lowered taxes. The price of rice is up. The soldiers are coming home. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_You know, when I tell you that everyone's a little bit cold, that doesn't mean you have to send a whole boatload of coats. (But thank you, because Aang is really outgrowing everything and the cloth is just not warm enough at all and I know he hates wearing something made from animals, but we lost his winter clothes somewhere along the way and it can't be helped.)_

_So, Ursa and Xiao Zhi are in the same house with Uncle Iroh, huh? How's that going?_

_Suki says she misses Fire Nation food. I miss it, too._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_What, are ocean kumquats not enough for you, now? Have your tastes changed?_

_Uncle is either very brave or very stupid. Or he has a death wish. I haven't decided. I've always wondered a little bit about his sanity, but I thought he was just a clever eccentric. Now I'm not so sure. My mother killed his father. I'd hate to see her repeat history._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_They're sea prunes. SEA PRUNES._

_Thank you for the sparkseed. And the honey. And the candied ginger, which still kind of reminds me of Ozai and is a little bit creepy. _

_The guards you sent keep calling me Fire Lady Katara. It's kind of strange. And everyone else here does it, too, until I tell them that I'm just Katara, I was born here like a lot of other people, but then Aang starts up with how special I am, which is nice, but I'm not the Avatar's waterbending teacher anymore – I'm just trying to be me. _

_The women here are jealous of my necklace. Sokka says the men are annoyed that I've raised the standard – now everyone wants pearls._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_The guards will continue referring to you by your title until you no longer hold it. The sages are still working out how exactly to proceed with the divorce. Technically you were married as a war bride, and there wasn't much precedent set for that kind of separation._

_It still frightens me down to the bone when someone refers to me as the Fire Lord._

_Aang is right. You are special. But you were special before Aang woke up. Toph says you were the only waterbender left in your village. If history had unfolded differently, you still would have been something rare. They still would have looked at you that way. It's part of who you are._

_Your necklace – well, my necklace, I guess – keeps slipping off. I had Toph bend me a wristband for it the other day. It's a sort of cuff. She likes working with gold because it's so pliant, but I really just chose it so I wouldn't have to worry about tarnish. That and it was a good use of Ozai's crown. I've since had a new crown made._

_And thank you for the boomerang. I'd practice with it more, but Ty Lee's pets seem to think it's meant for games of "fetch."_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Are you growing your hair out? I thought all the Fire Lords had to have long hair. The portraits made it seem like it, anyway. I don't know why I thought of that just now – probably because Sokka is trying to grow a beard. (Suki hates it.) _

_I guess you're right – I was always a little bit weird, here. I used to think it was just being the daughter of a chief, or one of the only girls left around, but there were no other benders around, and that was worse. At least you had firebenders around._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_I had firebenders who outshone me at every turn. Azula was a prodigy. Or, as Ozai liked to say: "Azula was born lucky. Zuko was lucky to be born." Think of it this way: at least you had no clue how awful a bender you were until the Avatar showed up._

_My barber keeps bothering me about a beard. He thinks I need to "lay in a foundation" now. I think he's just lazy and doesn't want to give me a proper shave._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_You let someone else shave you? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? He could slit your throat while your head is under the towel! I don't like it._

_I don't like beards, either. And if you get one of those funny Ozai-style beards, I will freeze it off. No one wants a big elbow-leech hanging off his chin. _

_(And don't grow your hair out too much. I refuse to be married to someone with prettier hair than me. You can grow it out when the divorce is final.)_

_You can't have been an awful bender. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_I was awful. I was worse than awful. I was an embarrassment. _

_I have to wake up earlier just to shave, you know. Your oppressive regime has extended further than Azula's dreams of empire ever could. You should be proud. _

_I don't have prettier hair than you. Yours curls. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Curls are annoying. Especially in the morning, when I have to comb them out. (Don't send that hair-combing tub! I mean it!)_

_Hey, at least you never took your resentment about your bending out on the Avatar._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_My whole journey was about my taking out my resentment on the Avatar. _

_Mom sent these combs, and some coilnut oil to soothe your tangles. _

_I like your hair best before you've combed it. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Katara,_

_Don't make me send my uncle. Write back._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I'm sorry I was so late writing back to you. (Don't send Uncle Iroh.) It's whaling season here, and there are always a lot of injuries, which means a lot of work for the healer. So I've been busy. _

_Aang is having a hard time with it, too. We split open the first whale of the season, and had our usual feast and festival, and I didn't notice he was gone until too late. (Some friend I am, huh?) I found him sitting next to the whalebones, just touching them and crying. _

_I don't know what to do._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_Send him here. There's always room for him. And Ty Lee's zoo is progressing – he can spend time there. Besides, I know Toph misses him. She dictates all her letters through Ty Lee, of course, but she asks me what you say about him. I think Aang isn't telling her much. _

_He never writes to me, either._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I told Aang about your suggestion, but he just sighed and asked me if I wanted him to leave. Of course I don't want him to leave! In fact, I was surprised he wanted to come with us – he said he wanted to come back to "where it all started," but I don't think it's working the way he wanted. _

_I know he doesn't write to you, but he asks about you. A lot._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_You shouldn't have to be the messenger between the two of us. If he wants to ask me something, he can. Be firm with him. Toph says it works._

_Today I helped inaugurate the first war memorial since Ozai's defeat. It's for foreign soldiers who died defending the Avatar's Peace. Uncle's Pai Sho friends had warned us, but there were riots. Toph nearly bent those people all the way into the volcano. _

_I still have a lot of trouble controlling my temper, too. Today an arrow whizzed right by me and it was all I could do not to start bending lava straight out of the ground. (It was right over Toph's head, too.)_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Do you need us there?_

_-Katara_

_Zuko,_

_That's it. We're packing._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_No. Don't. I don't want you here. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Hey, thanks a bunch. I'll keep that in mind._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_That wasn't what I meant and you know it. Things are dangerous here. Too many soldiers came home unable to work, and the price of rice has risen exponentially since we left our colonies in the Earth Kingdom. The colonists are trickling back, too, and they're finding everything different from the way they left it. Some of those families have been in the Earth Kingdom since the war started – they've never seen the Fire Nation. Everyone is unhappy. The whole city is a powderkeg._

_If I have to worry about you, I will lose focus._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_You don't have to worry about me. I'm a master waterbender, a bloodbender, a stormbender, and the Fire Lady. (Where exactly are our divorce papers? Have you checked the vault?)_

_The Fire Lady should be there, I think._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_No. She should not. There is more anti-foreign sentiment here now than there was during the war. The Fire Lady would become an instant target. _

_I check the vault on a frequent basis. I like to see how much Toph has cheated out of the palace guard._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_You know, half of the "anti-foreign sentiment" might be Toph's gambling habit. You know she was wanted, right? There were posters._

_But seriously, is it really right for me to be gone? Maybe if people saw that you're committed to…good foreign relations…they would give up?_

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

"_Good foreign relations?" _

_Well, I suppose you are still technically a good foreign "relation," and I am still committed to you under law and in the eyes of the Fire Nation…_

_I have seen the wanted poster. Ty Lee has one framed in her room._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I told Aang about what's been happening, and he's angry he didn't learn about it sooner. I guess Toph didn't want to worry him, so she never said anything in her letters. He's on his way. He says it's the Avatar's job to uphold the Avatar's Peace._

_Good luck._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_I love my mother, but when I tell her that no, Aang will not eat meat, she gets this funny look and says: "Not even fish?"_

_This conversation is twice as frustrating when I have it with the kitchen staff. I'm the Fire Lord! I pay these people for their service, not their opinion!_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Oh, no, is Little Lord Jerkbender having a hard time with the hired help? I'm crying for you._

_(Do try to get him to eat, though. There wasn't much for him here in terms of foods that never had a face, and he hates sea prunes.)_

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_Of course he hates sea prunes. He's a smart kid. _

_He's also really thin, and he's here, now, and he's buzzing around my office on that air scooter thing and disturbing all my papers and making my secretaries panic. _

_It feels right. I don't know why._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_He sounds happy. I'm glad. Do you think he'll be able to help the situation?_

_Is it warm there? It's the dead of winter, here. Tell me how warm it is, there, or I'll go crazy._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_It's so warm here that when I took Aang sailing today, I didn't need a coat. Or a shirt. It was nice. _

_We used an old-fashioned wooden boat this time. I told Aang that after the North Pole, Uncle and I were stuck on a raft for weeks. I told Aang it was nice to cheat, because he can bend the air around the sails. He had a lot of questions – what we ate, how we lived, what it was like for me not to be chasing him. I told him things I haven't told anyone. And it felt good. _

_I swear he's taller, now. And he eats like a rhino. My kitchen staff can now prepare egg custard tarts in their sleep. It doesn't help that my mother is spoiling him rotten, and he loves every minute of it._

_He is helping. I know he's not as happy as he could be, but once he finds something to do, he's a fish in water. It's hard, because he can't just go in and change people's minds. But he's Aang. He grows on people. _

_He brought a girl home, today. Her name is On Ji. My uncle's people are investigating her._

_-Zuko_

_Zuko,_

_You don't need to "investigate" On Ji. She's an old classmate of Aang's. They danced together at a party. (Which I thought was a little strange, but only because she already had a boyfriend.) What was she doing in the capitol?_

_Maybe I don't want to know, but what did you tell Aang that you couldn't tell me?_

_Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_On Ji was in town to meet her father's ship. He was injured in the Earth Kingdom, and now he's finally home. _

_Master Piandao came to visit us, today. He says he has sent a copy of the companion volume to "The Consummate Wife" to Sokka as a wedding gift. It's called "The Complete Husband," and Sokka should be receiving it soon. _

_Toph has been challenged to a re-match by the Boulder to benefit a charity for widows and orphans. Tickets are thirty gold pieces each. I think Uncle plans to buy up the entire stadium._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I'm happy to hear that Master Piandao is doing well, and that Sokka will be learning even more about…swordsmanship._

_That'll be a great match. (Sit up high in the back.)_

_You didn't answer my other question. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of. You don't need to know about all of them._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_But I want to know. (It's very boring, here. I had forgotten how boring the winter is. If I hear one of Gran-Gran's stories about Master Pakku again, I might just bend her jaws shut.)_

_I do want to know. Not just because I'm bored. I'm lonely here. Sokka is always with Suki and Dad is with Akna. (I can't remember if I told you, but they had a little ceremony here when we got back. Dad asked for my blessing. Sokka had already given his.) And Gran-Gran's thinking of "retiring" to the North Pole. She wants to live again in the city she knew growing up._

_Maybe I'm just jealous of Aang. I thought I knew all your secrets._

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_I stole an ostrich-horse from an Earth Kingdom girl and her mother, after they healed my uncle and gave us dinner. _

_I lied to the first girl who ever asked me out on a date. Then I ran out on her._

_I wrote Mai a note when I left. I didn't even say goodbye. I couldn't. I was too scared._

_I stole from people just to get the nice things I missed and couldn't earn. I stole from them just to scare them. _

_Part of me still misses the mask. _

_Surely there's someone there who wants to help you with your loneliness problem._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_If by "help me" you mean "gawk at me," then yes. Some of my dad's sailors are good at that. Then one of the guards you sent coughs, and they run away. Which is probably just as well – I kind of don't have time for anyone who's intimidated by your guards. (Sure, they look mean on the outside, but I've gotten to know them. They're big cuddly polar mice on the inside.) Besides, I'm still a married woman._

_I really wanted Jet to like me. I really wanted Hama to be good. I badgered Aunt Wu about telling me everything about my future. _

_I stole a lot of things. _

_I yelled at Aang when he was a better bender than me. I yelled at Toph when she had more fun than I did._

_Deep down, I blamed Dad for what happened to Mom. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_Your dad's sailors are all men twice your age. And so are the men I sent. _

_What did Aunt Wu say about your future?_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_She said I would marry a powerful bender and die surrounded by my grandchildren. She left out some of the important details. (She couldn't have warned me about Azula? Or General Fong? Or the Serpent's Pass?)_

_Today we saw the first evidence of thaw. It was a little purple lichen flower struggling up out of the frost. I crouched down just to get a better look, but Sokka panicked. It means spring is coming. He realized today that he doesn't know how to build a house with anything but ice. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_So Suki survived winter at the South Pole? Are you an aunt, yet?_

_Tell me when exactly I should make it to Kyoshi, and if I should send Teo early as a gift. I'd hate for Suki to die under the beams of a hastily-constructed house. _

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_No, I am not an aunt. (Which means you're not an uncle, either. And where in Koh's ninth coil are those divorce papers? Should we just burn the marriage contract and have done with it?)_

_Please do send Teo early. Sokka will need all the help he can get. _

_-Katara_

_PS: Ask Suki for the exact date. She's planning this wedding like the takeover of a city._

_Dear Katara,_

_The sages are at work on our divorce, I promise. But burning the marriage contract is out of the question. It's printed on the skin of a rare golden dragon. The vellum itself is hundreds of years old. It's priceless. The only scroll more valuable, in terms of materials, is the one we read our vows from. Both are ancient, and only the sages have access to them. _

_I will send Teo, and possibly Toph. There's no sense in having a bunch of laborers dig a foundation when a single earthbender can do it in one move, and better. How many extra rooms should the house have?_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I'm sorry. I was just teasing about the contract. You know that, right? I'd never burn it. It's a piece of history. We can't just get rid of it. _

_The house should have a lot of extra rooms. I think Sokka wants to breed a whole sailing crew. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_Done and done. Teo is drawing plans as we speak. Aang is trying to help…it's not going well. I may send them together. I have a lot of work to finish before the trip, and I think he could help Teo and Toph on Kyoshi. The builders will listen to the Avatar, at least, if they're foolish enough not to obey Toph's orders._

_I am going to miss Aang, though. I like our sailing days. My mother says that Aang just needs someone else's undivided attention for a little while. She says he's had to share everyone in his life – even the monks were supposed to look after all the children, not just a few. _

_When I first met Aang, I told him he would know nothing of fathers. And I was right. But I think my mother and Uncle are helping him make up for lost time._

_Are your measurements the same as before?_

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_I'm glad you still take Aang sailing. He should take you gliding, or at least flying on Appa. The two of you could trade off. _

_I think your mom is right. Aang needs someone to be gentle with him, just as much as he needs the opposite. It's like his bending, I guess. He just needs all his elements in balance._

_Why do you need to know about my measurements? I think they're basically the same. I did eat a lot of sea prunes and seal blubber, though, so maybe not…_

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_Enjoy the fruit. It's dried, but it's better than nothing._

_We tried gliding, and going up on Appa. But Aang is the last airbender, and I'm the Fire Lord. The sea is where we can meet. It's neutral. And it's something we both love._

_-Zuko_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Thank you for the fruit._

_And thank you for my robes. I'm so tired of fur I think I have a rash. _

_I guess you grew up on the ocean, didn't you?_

_-Katara_

_Dear Katara,_

_This is jasmine cream straight from my mother's apothecary. Fire Ladies don't get rashes. _

_I'm packing. Or watching my things getting packed. My tailor says I need formal wear. I don't think he's ever met Sokka._

_The journey is longer for me, and I won't know where to send letters. So you'll just have to read the old ones. If they haven't all been burned for fuel, that is. _

_-Zuko_

_PS: I'll have more papers with me for you to sign. Then that should be all._

_Dear Zuko,_

_I know you won't get this, so I'm not even sure why I'm writing it. Maybe it'll be a nice thing for you to receive when you get home. _

_I delivered a baby, today. And I learned that another woman is pregnant, this time by one of the guards you sent. There was a big fight and Dad had to mediate, but I think things are going to be okay. At least, I hope they will be, because Dad is leaving Bato in charge when we leave for the wedding. _

_Suki is going crazy over the details. Sokka tries to avoid her a lot, which means I see more of him. He asked me if I was moving to Kyoshi, or if I would stay here. I told him I didn't know. I think Sokka and Suki should have their own space for a while – nobody wants their baby sister hanging around during their honeymoon. I'll probably have to visit in nine months anyway, just to help Suki with the first of what Sokka hopes is a whole vessel's worth of kids. (I hope they're all girls. He's hoping for a boy first off and it would serve him right.)_

_I haven't been burning your letters. _

_-Katara_

_Dear Zuko,_

_Now we're really leaving. Things have been crazy around here. Suki's going mad. Remind me, if I ever get married again, not to try to plan every single little detail. Now I think Sokka knows what it was like for us when he tried pushing that whole schedule or itinerary or whatever it was. _

_I know you won't get this until you're back home. But at least if you see it and you don't see us on Kyoshi, you know that we got eaten by the Unagi._

_Wait, are you burning my letters? _

_-Katara_

* * *

Everything about this seemed eerily familiar.

The candles. The dancing. The clapping. Her and Toph, sitting at a table in the corner. If they weren't for the smell of cedar beams and her nagging worry about paper walls in the giant longhouse meant for Kyoshi Islander activities, Katara would have sworn they were nestled deep in a Fire Nation cave, staging their own little renegade dance party. Only this time, the Fire Nation contingent had failed to show up.

"I've been stood up," Katara said. She took a sip of her drink. "By my own husband."

"Relax, Sugar Queen," Toph said. "He'll be here."

"He promised," she said. "He promised Sokka and Suki. And he's already missed the ceremony."

"Sparky probably just got tied up. He's fussy about stuff. That or Pops put too many presents onboard…" Toph picked dirt from one fingernail. "And if that happened, then who knows how long he'll take?"

Katara's brows knit. "Toph, you're not exactly helping."

Toph blinked. "Hey, you don't think the Unagi nabbed his ship, do you?"

"You know what? Forget it. Forget I even mentioned anything." Katara crossed her arms. She sighed and tried to steer the conversation elsewhere. "Hey, who knew Ty Lee was such a good dancer?"

"I did," Toph said. "Twinkletoes can barely keep up."

Katara watched as Ty Lee swung from beam to beam, her body twisting in mid-air before bouncing off yet another groaning joist and causing the crowd below to gasp. Aang scooted circles around her; he bent two whips of wine around her and lit them ablaze, but she dodged them. They were both, she realized, born performers. Wasn't it on this very island that Aang had shown off to her on the elephant koi?

Aang drifted down from the rafters and landed delicately on one toe. He made an elaborate bow. "May I have this dance?"

Katara grinned. "Sure."

The Kyoshi had their own music, which seemed to involve a lot of stomping of their heavy shoes. It made finding the rhythm easy. As Katara took her place on the dance floor, she heard Sokka's boisterous cheering from the family table. She looked up to see both her father and Suki shaking their heads a little sadly. Sokka himself was standing on the table, weaving on his feet, and holding out a full, foamy mug of mek-ju.

"It could be worse," Aang said. "It could be cactus juice."

"You said it." She made a bow. "Are you ready?"

He bowed, too. "You bet."

They danced. It was the same mock-fighting dance that they had invented in the Fire Nation. She held her arms in a defensive posture, and they circled around each other before making sharp movements across the floor. The little "attacks" were a lot messier, now, and she found herself giggling as they veered hopelessly off-course. The last time they had done this, there was no drinking involved. And even though Aang still kept the Air Nomad customs regarding alcohol, he seemed to soak up the inebriation of those around him like a sponge. Maybe he was just drunk on their happiness, she thought, as they stumbled around each other and she laughed until she coughed.

"Okay, okay, hold on," Aang said. "Just run at me and a take a flying leap."

"I'm going to fall!" She was already on the floor.

"No, you won't, I won't let you fall," Aang said. "Come on. Just one try."

She got up and dusted herself off and tried not to think about the stories that would be told – _The Fire Lady got drunk and fell down, the Bloodbender can't dance –_ and raised her chin. Then she took that flying leap. She ran at Aang and he flipped her over, sent a little skid of air under her toes so she flipped over, completely safe but still shrieking, in the embrace of those warm currents of air. She landed and the guests clapped.

"One more time!" Aang said, and the crowd cheered.

Katara held up her hands. "Okay, okay."

She tightened her crown on her head and made sure her necklace was fastened, bit her lip, and charged. This time Aang lifted her higher – she felt her stomach flip as she came nose-to-nose with the rafters – but she fell slower, buffeted by cushions of air that made her feel light as a feather…

…and deposited her straight into a waiting pair of arms.

"Thank you, Aang," Zuko said from behind her. "I was just going to ask if I could cut in."

Across from her, Aang tilted his head. He smiled softly. "Sure." He made the Fire Nation bow, then turned around, and promptly bumped into one of his admirers. Behind her, Zuko laughed low in his throat. And she was doing the same. She turned around.

He was in his good black armor. Someone had repaired it. He was cleanshaven and had kept his hair relatively short – just long enough to keep the crown in place. _I like your hair_, she wanted to say, but instead she held up one finger. "You're late."

He smiled and looked from her finger to her face. "I know."

"Really late."

"I'm sorry."

"Really, _really_ late."

He sighed. "I know. But I showed up." His smile deepened. "I always show up, sooner or later."

"Right when we least expect you," Katara said, trying not to smile, too.

He was staring at her necklace. "Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out where I'm going." He swallowed. "Sometimes I get lost."

She licked her lips. "Is that what happened tonight? Did you get lost?"

"No." His eyes rose. And her heart turned over. "Tonight I knew exactly where I was going."

She took a deep breath. "Is it…is it too loud in here for you?"

"Yes. Let's leave."

"Okay." _That was easy._

They pushed their way out of the longhouse and into a mostly-deserted Kyoshi village. The remnants of the wedding were everywhere – twisted paper blessings hanging from re-purposed clothesline, the pink paper wrappers of too many rice cakes. Wind shivered through the pines. The last taste of winter was still on it, and she hugged her arms. "Let's go see the house."

Walking to the house required going down a gentle slope and turning west. There was no one on the road, and the lanterns had gone mostly unlit. Zuko had to spark up a fire in his palm to light their way. He doused it, though, when Katara led him up the tree-shadowed path to Sokka and Suki's new home. Toph had bent a new road into the earth, but it was still a little steep, and the trees' boughs still hung low, and finally Katara closed her eyes and stuck her hand out behind her and tried not to like the immense wave of gratification that washed over her when he took it and didn't let go.

He didn't let go when they were standing before the house, either. He merely lit a fire in his other palm, and surveyed the house's long lanai. "It's good," he said finally. "I'm glad I sent Toph and Teo."

"So are Sokka and Suki. They like having a level foundation. And indoor plumbing." She tugged him. "Come on. The view's better from the other side."

He balked. "It's someone else's house."

She arched one eyebrow. "Since when has that ever stopped you?"

He looked a little rueful. "You know, I try so hard to be good, and you just ruin it."

"He's my brother. I'll take all the blame." She grinned. "Besides. It takes two to short-sheet a bed."

He rolled his eyes. "If I don't keep my eye on you, you'll probably make off with all the gifts."

She gave him a scowl and sauntered up to the front door. "I'll have you know I haven't stolen anything in almost a year."

"A new record. I'm astonished."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and they entered the house and slipped off their shoes. In the dark, the house was a maze of shadows. Zuko lit a fire in his palm, but Katara quickly waved it away. "Stop! Someone will see us!" She made for the stairs.

Behind her, Zuko said: "Have you been drinking?"

"Only a little bit." She felt for railings and pushed herself up the stairs. She heard the sound of wood snapping and jumped. "We broke the house!"

"…It's the house settling. New floors make that sound."

"They do?"

"Yes. They do. I had to put in a whole new dining room after that stupid bear destroyed it."

She turned on the stairs and almost slipped. She held up one finger. "Bosco is a very smart bear, and you-"

"Are we going to the bedroom, or not?" She heard him gulp. "I thought you had things you wanted to do."

Her face burned. "Yes," she said. "More like one thing. A prank."

"Well, we should get to it, then," Zuko said. "They could show up at any minute."

"Right." She turned around and trudged up the stairs. She led him down the hall to the bedroom. Zuko lit up a single flame on his finger. It was a corner room. Someone had strewn it with flowers. From here, they could see the black expanse of the harbor. Katara wondered if the Unagi ever sang -- would the screeching wake her brother and his new wife up, every morning? Despite herself, she giggled.

"What's so funny?"

She turned. Zuko was looking a little forlornly at the bed. "Oh, just Sokka," she said. She looked down at the bed. It too was covered in little petals. "I guess it's too pretty to mess up."

"Yes," Zuko said. "That would be wrong."

"Really wrong," she said. "And mean."

"And they could find us."

"Yeah, like _any minute_."

"We'd have to be quick." He coughed. "You know. Not really do a quality job."

"And that's just a waste of a good opportunity." She forced herself to breathe. "Did you want to see the rest of the house?"

"Are there are a lot of other rooms?"

"Yeah. But they're not really, um, furnished. Finished. I mean. Finished."

"Oh." Zuko nodded. "Well, let's not go see those, then."

"Have you been burning my letters?" The question came out before she could stop it.

"What? No." A pause. "Have you been burning mine?"

"…No." She looked out the window, then back at him. He was just a shadow, now, and she was grateful not to see his face. "What should we do?"

"I should… I should check on the tents. They're on the beach. The ones I'm staying in."

"Okay. That's a good idea."

They moved slowly down the stairs and carefully exited the house. Zuko held her elbow while she dug her toes back into her slippers. They nearly lost their footing a couple of times on the way down the hill, but they eventually found their way to the beach. Red tents had been set on the beach, in full view of the narrow little ship moored there. Katara squinted. "Hey, is that…"

"Same model. Different ship."

"Oh." She smiled. "I used to think it was so big."

He snorted. "What, it's not big enough for you, now?"

She shrugged. "I've seen bigger."

"What about the tents? What do you think of those?"

Katara turned. The tents were pretty impressive. They looked like a little mobile palace cut out of red canvas and flags. "I like them."

"Good. One of them's yours."

"But I'm staying up in one of the guesthouses."

"You're the Fire Lady. I had to bring one for you."

Katara eyed the tents. She looked at his wrist. He was rubbing the back of his neck. She caught the glimmer of gold there when he let his hand fall, saw the hint of the blue stone in the center of his new cuff. She closed her eyes. "You said there would be papers."

He sighed. "Yes." She opened her eyes. He was looking out at the ocean. "About those. They didn't quite make it onto the ship with me."

"…They didn't?"

"No." He bit his lip. "I think a crafty old dragon might have hidden them from me."

Katara laughed. "A crafty old dragon, huh? Are sure a little runaway bandit didn't help him?"

Zuko beamed. "Maybe."

She stepped closer. There was no real reason to whisper, but it felt easier that way. "You know," she said, "I'll bet your uncle has them hidden in a secret place."

"Of course he does. But he has so much stuff, he just buys everything he sees, and-"

"You might need help looking." She was toying with her necklace. "I mean, especially if he's hidden them really well."

"Like in his office," Zuko said. He was catching on. She could tell from the way he could barely speak. "Or the vault."

"Or the bunker," she said.

"And there are all kinds of White Lotus hideouts. All over the capitol."

"But, you know, we'd have to sneak around. In. Sneak in. Secretly. It would have to be a secret mission."

"Very secret."

"And undercover. Because, you know, I'd have to use my being Fire Lady as an excuse. To go through his things." She looked up at him. "That would give me access to everything, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. Everything." His eyes had gone wide. "Whenever you wanted."

She brushed imaginary dirt from his shoulders. "It, um… It might take me a while to figure out a plan."

"We'll do it together." He swallowed. "The planning. All of it."

The smile wiggled across her lips before she could stop it. "I can't wait to get started."

He linked their little fingers. "That's something we have in common."

_THE END_

* * *

**AFTERWORD:**

Welcome to the end of _Stormbenders._ For the purposes of this afterword, I will assume that you have seen the finale for _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. If you have not, please stop reading now.

First, I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this story such a special experience. To those of you who have encouraged me from the beginning, way back at _A Girl's Drink_ (like Misora), I want to thank you. For those of you who have read _Ozai's Vengeance_, who read and believed and stuck with me, I want to thank you. For those of you who have drawn art, promoted the story, talked about it, and sent me private messages and emails and told your friends, I want to thank you. You are the reason for the success of this story. It has been an amazing journey of self-discovery for me. And it would not have happened without your encouragement.

Writing this story has, for me, never been about winning a 'shipping war. Instead, it started with these desires:

To tell a story about the Fire Nation.

To tell an adventure story – an action/comedy/romance about two of my favorite fictional people who I happen to think have great chemistry.

To give Katara the same treatment I had given Zuko in _Ozai's Vengeance,_ but with a much different tone of voice. I was worried that I couldn't reproduce the success of that story, until I realized that I shouldn't try to repeat myself. I should instead do what I wanted to do, and hope that other people enjoyed it. Moreover, I thought it unfair to three stories and a large fic about Zuko, and only three stories about Katara. She needed her own large fic, too. To make things fair.

But along the way, it became about a lot more.

I had always had issues with the Avatar State problem. During late-night conversations with RachelTheDemon, I constantly said that I wished Sokka or Zuko or Katara or Toph would pipe up and tell Aang that the fact that he could not let go of Katara was holding the group back – and holding the world back, because it meant that Aang's defeat (and the Fire Lord's success) was assured. In Ch. 5, when Sokka tells Aang that it's his limitations that put his father and Suki in prison, I was expressing my own views about Aang's failure to hold up his end of the Avatar bargain.

For me, Aang is not the hero of ATLA. Zuko is. Zuko is the one who has change and growth and development. Conversely, all of Aang's views get validated and he doesn't have to change his ways at all – he gets his druthers and never has to make a decision that might sacrifice his personality or identity. He remains insulated from the world and its problems, and rewarded for his weakness. Does he defeat the Fire Lord? Yes. But does he conquer any of his inner demons? No. And it's sad, because while the others have grown up, he has not. He is Peter Pan, and the Lion-Turtle's back is his Neverland.

Katara never struck me as particularly heroic until the second and third seasons of the show. In fact, she struck me as self-righteous, inconsistent, and selfish. She was a thief who hadn't made peace with her "the end justifies the means" attitude, and within the scope of the series, she actually gets an opportunity to learn more about herself, especially from the people that challenge her: Pakku, Hama, the leader of the Southern Raiders, and of course Zuko. In life, our enemies are the ones who become our greatest teachers, not just for what they show us about the world's cruelty but for what they show us within ourselves. I had wanted to express this same sentiment within _Stormbenders_, and I hope I did a good enough job.

Granted, Katara did not make the same choice as I would have by series' end. But she is fictional and I am real, and I am happily married to someone who can make difficult decisions, and who doesn't run away and hide from problems. The best thing any story can teach us is that our own world – the real world, with all of its flaws – is better and richer and more satisfying than anything anyone can dream up, no matter how grand or epic. ATLA has done that for me. Despite how fun waterbending looks, I wouldn't trade places with Katara. Or any of them.

I wrote _Ozai's Vengeance_ as a commentary on both the "capture" and "arranged marriage" phenomena within a lot of stories about Zuko and Katara. The same sentiment informed this story, although it was primarily a chance to be fair to Katara in a way that I had not been, before. Writing Katara was actually very difficult for me. I found her perspective hostile and thorny. I write Zuko with my heart. I write Katara with my brain. But in writing about her, I had to reach back into my own experiences as a fourteen-year-old girl – my own insecurities, my own pride, my own flaws. In my own life I am much more like Toph – blunt and dirty, but (hopefully) loyal. Katara made writing about "girly" girls much easier for me. And I am profoundly grateful for that.

That said, you can read _Stormbenders_ as both "capture" (for they certainly are captured) and "arranged marriage" (because, after all, Azula and Zuko arrange one, and Katara goes along). Both Rashaka and VickiSo have expressed the view that one of the strengths of SB is its use of fanfic tropes as a method of subversion – turning the cringe-worthy bits of some romance narratives on their heads by using the same tactics as those same romances. I feel odd commenting on this, because I'm not entirely sure it was a strategy on my part. If anything, it was a vague goal. I wanted to be fair to Katara. I wanted to give her all the information (the series didn't) and give her the chance to choose for herself (and not out of sympathy to either Aang or Zuko). This included being both captured and married on her own terms, then deciding that she wanted to live her life that way – on her own terms. The epilogue that you just read is, in many ways, a capsule version of the whole story at first: Katara is disappointed in Zuko, he arrives "late" (as he arrived late to the group in canon), they share a little bit of sneaking together, and then she agrees to go on a "secret mission" with him. But this time, she decides for herself.

ATLA, and in particular the Fire Nation, is a wonderful place rife with themes that demand further examination. Writing this story allowed me to explore things that were buried in the subtext. Aang's failure to achieve the Avatar State was only one of them, for me. Here are some of the others:

-Katara and Zuko's shared history regarding their mothers (and in Katara's case, her father). It was important to me that we see Hakoda and Ursa's "abandonment" of their children for what it was – a huge sacrifice for the good of the family. I wanted Katara and Zuko to repeat this process with Aang, not only because it would teach Aang self-reliance (in the same way that it taught it to Katara and Zuko) but because it would show Katara and Zuko the depth of their parents' love. The series seems to have backed me up on this, to some extent: in training Aang, Zuko becomes something of a father to him. By the end of the series, they share the same scar (as they do by the end of _Ozai's Vengeance_, I might add). At the end of _Stormbenders_, Katara, who has twice before given Aang life (first "hatching" him out of his shell, then healing his wounds), shares her healing gift with Zuko. Together, they give him life.

-The Fire Nation's dominance in areas of technology, and the ravages of imperialism. While ATLA has always been about the sanctity of the natural world and individual freedom, for me it has also been about how deeply wrong it is to invade a country without cause. During Sozin's time, the Fire Nation had no direct evidence that the Air Nomads or the Earth Kingdom were going to hurt them, and the Earth Kingdom and the Air Nomads had not asked them to "share their prosperity" or their style of government. In this story, Katara is a woman of color who thoroughly understands that her race and her nationality mean she will soon be colonized or killed by the Fire Nation unless she stands and fights now. She understands the pettiness and ignorance (for these are the primary ingredients of all racism, in addition to fear) that make Ozai and Azula what they are, and refuses to allow the same impulses to rule her. She learns to love the Fire Nation, despite its history. But she also colonizes it for herself.

-Stormbending as a metaphor. In ATLA, different styles of bending and elements correspond to who a person and what a nation is. Fire is destructive but powerful (like Azula), earth is stubborn and unyielding (like Toph), and so on. In stormbending, I discovered a great metaphor for two people working together, and two nations healing. I didn't see why one should have to be the Avatar to combine the elements, not when the freedom of the whole world depended on it. Of course, stormbending is also a metaphor for more than just nations joining, and there's a reason that stormbending brings Aang to life at the end of the story, why Katara calls it "a team effort."

A few of you have asked me specific questions about the story, and I'll try to answer them here:

-All the innuendos were intentional.

-Toph is gay. (And I daresay the series agrees with me, there.)

-Katara and Zuko didn't have sex in the "finale" chapter. She's fourteen. (Nothing happens to Katara in this story that wasn't happening for me at around fifteen.) And more importantly, _she didn't want to._

Here are some places I went wrong:

-I made things too easy on Zuko and Katara. They were never truly "discovered" until a point at which it no longer mattered, and they should have been. There were two places that they could have been discovered: in the Oyster District, Part II, when the Dai Li are on the roof and they're inside talking about the scheme (the Dai Li could have been listening), and when Katara ditches the map scroll during a dressing sequence (technically I didn't write her losing it, but only because I myself forgot that she had it – it's still physical evidence).

-Clearing up Li and Lo. I had never truly decided whether Li and Lo were on Katara and Zuko's side. But then, the series also found a suitably-ambiguous end for Li and Lo, so I don't feel too bad.

-Not giving Aang more of a chance to say simply "thank you" for all that Katara and Zuko have done for him.

Well, that's all, folks. It's over. There won't be a sequel. There may, however, be comics, and a Spanish translation.

Once again, I want to thank you all. But especially, I want to thank the people who saw this through with me: my husband, Rachel, Misora, AKAVertigo, RedBrunja, LemonyLoyce, Manonlechat, BelleFavrielle, EVERYONE AT CAPSTARA, Rashaka and everyone at KZ, all my friends at LJ _and especially OrePookPook, who went above and beyond the call of duty in designing costumes, answering questions about everything from culture to canon, and helping me plan this epilogue you just read._

See you in the Oyster District.


End file.
